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THE
LOST CONTINENT.
OR,
Slavery and the Slave-trade
IN AFRICA,
1378.
With observations on the Asiatic Slave-trade, carried on under the
name of the labour traffic, and some other subjects.
re Ree, Seth
JOSEPH COOPER.
—_————————
LONDON:
LONGMANS, GREEN & Co.
1875.
aE
Ce
LONDON
BARRETT, SONS AND CO,, PRINTERS,
SEETHING LANE, E.C.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER 1
The State of Africa— Inefficiency of the present attempts to
destroy the Slave-trade—The only Remedy—Slavery in
Turkey, Egypt, Persia—Wars of Aggression—Sir Samuel
Baker-— Colonel Gordon, &c = - - -
CHAPTER II.
Slave-trade in Affghanistan—The Ameer subsidised by England
—Supplied with Arms used in carrying on the Slave-trade
—Slavery on the Gold Coast—SI lavery and the Slave-trade
in Madagascar ~~ - -
a
CHAPTER IIL
Slavery and the Slave-trade in the Portuguese Settlements on the
East Cost of Africa and the African Island of St. Thomas -
CHAPTER IV.
Slavery in Brazil—Rapid Decrease in the number of Slaves—
Extraordinary Death-Rate—Insufficiency of the Abolition
Law of 1871—Urgent Necessity of Freedom - -
J043239
PAGE
19
25
31
1v CONTENTS.
CHAPTER V.
The Asiatic Slave-trade—The French Colonies—DBritish West
Indies and Mauritius—Chinese in Peru - - -
CHAPTER VI.
The Fiji Islands—The Contract System - -
CHAPTER VIL
Slavery in Cuba—The Slave-Trade T reaties—Destruction of
hend’s Visit—Fashionable Prejudice—Conduct of the Blacks:
Life—Working of Slavery on the Estates—Captain Towns-
testimony of Governors of Jamaica—Leeward Islands -
CHAPTER VIII
Civil War in Cuba—The Spanish Government of the Island—
The two great parties—The Revolution in Spain, 1868 —
Special Laws—Abolition of Slavery in Porto Rico—Course
of the late British Cabinet = = - u
CHAPTER IX.
The Zanzibar Treaty—Legal difficulties as to its provisions—
New Routes by Land for the Slave-trade—Condition of the
African People where not demoralised by the Slave-trader -
CHAPTER X.
Dr. Livingstone’s last Journals—Christian regard for Human Life
—Slave-trade as seen in his latter years ~~ - - -
PAGE
18
§I
60
70
79
85
CONTENTS. Vv
CHAPTER XI.
PAGE
Christian Missions—Dr. Livingstone—Colonel Cameron—New
and extensive steam communication with Zanzibar, ports
in Eastern Africa—Projected Ship Canal, North Western
Africa - “ : i = = - 8
CHAPTER XIL
Introduction of British Indian Coolies into Surinam—The Dutch
in Java—Dutch war of aggression in Acheen - =o
CHAPTER XII.
Queensland—The Labour Traffic—Condition of the Islanders on
the Estates - - = - = - 102
CHAPTER XIV.
Coolies poponl into the British West Indies during a period of 7
Twenty-nine years—The number returned to their own
country—Their savings—Number now in the Colonies—
The death-rate - = = = - - 110
CHAPTER XV.
Concluding Remarks - - - - - - 114
PREFACE.
SINCE the publication of ¢ Slavery and the Slave-trade
)
in Africa in 1872,” many circumstances have occurred to
excite public interest in the question.
The discovery of Dr. Livingstone at Ujiji, his subsequent
travels and lamented death, together with the mission of
Sir Bartle Frere and the works of other travellers, have
all combined to arouse an intense amount of popular
feeling.
Will this public interest be brought to bear in the right
direction ?
If so, under the Divine blessing, Slavery and the Slave-
trade in Africa may speedily be abolished.
To show that there is no insurmountable obstacle to
this at the present time, the following pages have been
wiltion,
From what is passing in the great Valley of the Nile,
it is clear that one of two things will shortly take place.
viii PREFACE.
Either Slavery will be abolished, in the Mohammedan
countries, and with it the Slave-trade in Africa, or the
world must witness a new slave-market of enormous extent.
It is for the people of England and the other great nations,
under the blessing and power of an overruling Providence, to
do much at the present time to decide this great question.
When the people are really in earnest, the Governments
act; without a healthy public opinion behind them, states-
men neither act nor have the power to do so.
Essex Harr, WaLTHAMSTOW,
Fourth Month, 1875.
THE 1.0ST CONTINENT,
CHAPTER 1,
The State of Africa—Inefficiency of the present attempts to destroy the
Slave-trade—The only Remedy—Slavery in Turkey, Egypt, Persia
—Wars of Aggression—Sir Samuel Baker— Colonel Gordon, &c.
WHEN the events of the present age pass into History,
probably no greater anomaly will be observed than the state
of the vast Continent of Africa during this part of the present
century. The slave-trade at the present time extends over
- the greater part of the Northern, Southern, and Central
regions, and covers an area nearly equal to that of the whole
of Europe.
That something like a fourth part of the World, capable
of producing an abundant supply of almost all those things
which are necessary to the comfort and happiness of mankind,
should have remained an unproductive wilderness, will be an
enigma not easy of solution to the future historian.
He will not fail to observe that by the exertions and self-
sacrifice of enterprising travellers a flood of light had from
B
2 THE LOST CONTINENT.
time to time been shed over many of the dark places of
Africa, and that well-intended, long-sustained, and noble
efforts had in consequence been made to bring about a
better state of things.
Should he however be able to take a full and compre-
hensive view of the whole question, he will doubtless see that
these efforts have been misdirected, and that in consequence
they have been followed only by partial and almost insigni-
ficant results; and further, that by some unaccountable
fatuity the true remedy had been almost entirely neglected.
In no age have the great questions connected with supply
and demand in commercial affairs been so thoroughly dis-
cussed as during the second quarter of the present cen-
tury, and in none has it been made so apparent that the
demand generally creates the supply. By what fatuity is it
then, that in attempting to deal with the slave-trade,
attention should have been wholly devoted to the question
of supply, and no attention should have been given to
demand ?
It cannot be said that the question is one of humanity
merely; fer, as man is converted into property by the slave-
trade, the question is one of commerce, and therefore sub-
ject to the laws which govern supply and demand.
To supply the demand for slaves in the Mohammedan
countries has long been the most lucrative trade carried on
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 3
in Africa, and the attempt to destroy this traffic by dealing
with the supply alone has heretofore proved not more
effective than would have been an attempt to prevent water
from finding its level.
Hence, notwithstanding all that has been done, the African
slave-trade as a whole, is, at this moment, probably as great
as it has been at any previous time.
Whilst slaves fetch [30 to £30 each in Turkey and
Egypt, it must be impossible to stop the trade, unless the
absurd idea be entertained that the vast coasts of Africa can
be sealed. Nearly all the bloody wars which depopulate
and desolate Africa have their origin not in Africa, but in the
countries to which the slaves are driven.
There are doubtless intertribal wars in Africa, but few even
of these may not be traced immediately or remotely to a
demand which it is above all things profitable to supply.
Wars in Africa having no connection with the slave-trade,
are, in fact, comparatively so few that they do not form an
important element in the question.
The slave-trade has now existed more than three centuries,
and within that peried, according to a careful French writer, |
more than fifty millions of slaves have been taken from |
Africa.
The responsibility for the crimes and horrors which these
figures represent must rest in the first instance upon the
B 2
4 THE LOST CONTINENT.
Christian nations of Europe who introduced the system into
Africa in the sixteenth century.
Under some sense of this responsibility, as it would seem,
and with an earnest desire to bring the system to an end, the
representatives of the eight principal European Powers, who
met in Vienna in 1815 and again in Verona in 1822, declared
that the state of Africa was a degradation to Europe, and
pledged their respective Governments never to cease their
efforts to bring the slave-trade to complete and definite
abolition.*®
Since that time great changes have taken place—the
Atlantic slave-trade has ceased, or very nearly so. But the
traffic mostly now carried on by the overland routes east-
ward has enormously increased. The principal countries
on behalf of which the present African slave-trade is carried
on are Turkey, Egypt, Persia, Tunis, Morocco, and Mada-
gascar. On them the responsibility for the present state of
Africa now mainly rests.
The rulers of these countries have, in nearly every instance,
at one time or other, condemned both slavery and the slave-
trade, and have entered into treaty engagements for the sup-
pression of the Slave Markets throughout their dominions.
How is it, then, that the slave-trade is still carried on in
* See Appendix A.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 5
those countries in violation both of law and treaty engage-
ments? One answer to this will probably be found in the
fact that the European Powers, though solemnly pledged to
bring the system to a definitive end, have taken little interest
in the subject for the last thirty years, during which period
the traffic has pretty steadily increased.
Now that the whole subject is better understood, it becomes
every day more manifest that slavery must cease to exist in
Turkey and Egypt, the two nations in which is to be found
the greatest drain upon Africa. What is required is, that
the laws shall no longer recognize human beings as property,
and that the buying and selling them shall be made felony.
It is this recognition by the law, of property in man, which
lies at the root of the whole mischief.
Some people who have paid little attention to the subject
imagine that the abolition of slavery involves the removal
from their employments of all the servile population. This
is a great mistake—employers and employed will each
stand in need of the other, and in many cases remain in
their present connection after the abolition of slavery has
taken place. If the slaves are as happy as some people
represent, they will of course not leave their employers,—
if otherwise, the master will have a new motive for
improving their condition in the desire to retain them.
Inconveniences will doubtless attend the transition, but
6 THE LOST CONTINENT.
these evils will be small compared with those which, sooner
or later, overtake all countries in which slavery is allowed
to exist. The abolition of slavery must eventually prove
as great a boon to the employer as to the employed,
because slavery is the principal cause of that lethargy and
sensuality which are so injurious to the people, and which
form such an obstacle to the reception of Christianity and
civilisation.
Another difficulty started by some is, that slavery being an
internal institution of the countries where it exists, it is there-
fore unconstitutional for other Powers to interfere with it.
But the slave-trade is now an internal institution of Africa,
and still no one doubts the propriety of efforts for its repression
on the part of all nations, on the ground, that it is a crime
against our common humanity. But slavery also is a crime
against humanity, and, being such, all men and all nations
are entitled to exert their moral influence against it.
Some persons describe slavery as a patriarchal institution,
and dwell upon the happiness of the slave in Mussulman
countries, overlooking altogether the fact that for every
single slave who arrives in Turkey and Egypt four or more
have perished.
Let those who think thus imagine the slaves as perfectly
happy, but then, let them at least remember that, while the
system exists, Africa must continue a lost continent. It is,
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 7
however, certain that the negroes waste away in those
countries—it is said the second generation of negroes is
rarely found in Turkey, and that the third is never seen.
Hence the demand for fresh victims creates an ever-flowing
stream from Africa. Sir Bartle Frere, in the Blue Book
presented to the Houses of Parliament in 1873, states
that, “ The correspondence of the Central African Vicariate
Apostolic extends over countries roughly estimated at hav-
ing a population of 80,000,000 of negroes, between the Red
and Arabian Seas on the east, and the Atlantic on the west;
and the annual drain consequent on slavery is estimated by
the Superior of the Mission at 1,000,000.”
Dr. Livingstone calculated that not more than one slave
in five arrived at his destination, and on some routes not one
in nine. This does not include the loss of life caused by the
torture of boys for the markets of Egypt and Turkey, under
which two out of every three perish.
These Eastern Powers have, in time past, been peculiarly
desirous of standing well with England, and it can scarcely
be doubted that had her moral influence been with more
perseverence brought to bear on the subject, slavery, and
consequently the slave-trade—both negro and Circassian—
would have ceased long ago.
The evil institution cannot be much longer maintained.
If Great Britain will not act, in all human probability Russia
8 THE LOST CONTINENT.
will do so, and take the honour, as she has recently done in
reference to slavery in Khiva. Great credit is due to Russia
for her manner of dealing with slavery in Khiva. Had a
temporising policy with regard to slavery been pursued, the
Khivese would have been subjected to far more trouble and
annoyance. Gradual schemes of dealing with slavery would
have unsettled everything and have settled nothing.
It has too long been the practice of England quietly to dis-
regard her treaty claims and to acquiesce in the existence of
slavery and the slave-trade in the Eastern Nations. Should
no change pretty speedily take place Russia will probably
step in and make an end of both.
It is sometimes said, even by statesmen, that as civilisation
advances and European ideas come to prevail among the
Eastern nations, slavery and the slave-trade will cease to
exist, as a matter of course.
However plausible this idea may be, facts in this particular
case are against it. Slavery and civilisation are at this
moment increasing side by side in Egypt. Slaves, in a
certain sense, are an article of luxury. The advance of civi-
lisation and the increase of wealth in Egypt have been
followed by an increase in the number of those who can
afford to purchase and maintain slaves.
Another class of persons are slow to believe that it is
necessary to do away with slavery in order to destroy the
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 9
slave-trade ; they still cling to the mistaken idea that the
traffic can be abolished by force alone in Africa, and slavery
be at the same time retained—an opinion which neither past
history nor passing events in any way warrant.
On this subject Sir Bartle Frere—who has done so much
for humanity, and whose judgment and experience entitle his
opinions to the greatest attention—thus expressed himself on
a recent occasion in Glasgow :(—
“We may do what we can in the way of violent suppression,
but we shall never put an end to the slave-trade till we put
an end to slavery. We must let slave-holding countries—
Egypt, Turkey, and others—understand that they will not
be admitted into the brotherhood of civilised nations unless
they abjure slavery.”
One of the professed objects of the late expedition of Sir
Samuel Baker was the forcible suppression of the slave-trade
in Africa. Beyond the destruction of a few slave hunters’
stations, which would probably be quickly restored when his
back was turned, little has been effected by all that expenditure
of blood and treasure. Many of those who accompanied
him perished. Large numbers of natives were ruthlessly
slaughtered, their villages burnt, and their cattle seized.
The murderous and oppressive character of the expedition
was exposed in the Times by Mr. M‘William, the chief
engineer of the expedition, but Sir Samuel does not appear
10 THE LOST CONTINENT.
to have deemed it prudent to attempt any answer to these
charges in his recent work.
Mr. M’William writes :—
“If Sir Samuel Baker wishes at any time for my testi-
mony as to the barbarous manner in which the expedition
was conducted, the wholesale murders, pillage, and ruin of
the country, he is welcome to it; or should the Royal Geo-
graphical Society or any body of gentlemen wish for any
information respecting that futile expedition, I shall be glad
to give it previous to my departure from this country.” *
“ . ... Mr. Bakeralso states that Sir Samuel had no in-
tention of allowing raids to be made on the natives in future.
One of the first acts of Sir Samuel, after the farce of annexing
the country had been gone through, was to make a raid on a
small tribe near us, taking their cattle, to the number of 5,000,
besides some thousands of sheep; he also took possession of
all their plantations of grain, leaving the people in a state of
starvation. Orders were issued at the same time that all
natives found near the camp were to be shot down, irrespec-
tive of age orsex. This was strictly carried out. The brutal
details of these cold-blooded murders Iwould rather not relate.
Out of the numerous raids made upon the unoffending natives
near Gondokoro, many of them were led by Sir Samuel in
* See Appendix B.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. IY
person, and cattle and sheep to the number of over 30,000
captured, and their houses plundered and wantonly burned
down. Their cattle were not stolen solely for the use of the
troops in camp, but were to be given to the various tribes
up the country on condition of their serving Sir Samuel.
Naturally the poor creatures resisted as well as they could,
but what could they do against fire-arms? Mr. Baker
further states that Sir Samuel always wished to preserve
peace, but when the Bari war broke out the only chance of
success depended on military vigour. The only Bari war
that ever existed was a night attack on our cattle inclosures
by the Laquois tribe, which was not successful. None of our
troops were either killed or wounded in the affair. After this
Sir Samuel made war on the Belignan tribes, massacring
them in great numbers, and burning up their country. They
had taken no part in the raid made by the Laquois on our
cattle, but as they were not so powerful, and were much
more convenient to be got at, Sir Samuel preferred to operate
on them as an example to the Laquois tribe. . . . .
‘ Mr. Baker concludes with saying that if a military ex-
pedition is sent to annex an extensive country war is a
natural consequence, as the history of the world can testify.
True, but scenes such as I Have depicted are not to be met
with in modern history.”
What will be the result of the new expedition, undertaken
I2 THE LOST CONTINENT.
by Colonel Gordon, remains to be seen. The whole affair is
at present a war of conquest and aggression, in which one
side is armed with the most destructive weapons which science
and art can produce—the other, with the rudest arms only, in
vain attempts to defend their country and their homes. In a
single affray, conducted by one of Colonel Gordon’s officers,
no less than eighty-two natives were killed.
In all these expeditions it should be borne in mind that
the cause of the natives is never heard. We only hear the
statements of the Europeans who enter into these engage-
ments, and they go so equipped and armed that, it has been
forcibly remarked, their lives are insured. When any great
amount of slaughter has been committed the aggressors con-
gratulate one another on their bravery and gallant bearing,
and the world applauds.
But do these Egyptian raids effect any permanent good ?
The first undertaken, in point of time, was that by the Pasha
of Egypt, in 1857, when it was declared, as the result, that
slavery in Khartoum and the Soudan was abolished.
Then followed the expedition of Musa Pacha, in 1862, at
the conclusion of which a similar declaration was made, but
notwithstanding all this the slave-trade has since raged in
those parts and depopulated some of the finest districts in
that part of Africa.
The slave-trade has never yet been destroyed by such
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 3
means, although occasionally it has been diverted into fresh
channels. Knowing this, it is a little remarkable that some
persons decry every other course of action.
People of this class never grow weary of pouring contempt
upon what they are pleased to call, the “fanatical school of
humanitarians,” ignoring the fact that if there be a fanatical
school of humanitarians, there is also a fanatical school of
rapine and blood.
Opinions differ greatly as to the sincerity of the professions
of the Khedive on the subject of slavery. The impres-
sion which the writer received on one occasion, in an
interview with His Highness, was, that he was perfectly
sincere in his desire to see his country clear of the stain
of slavery. But a solution of the question will probably be
found in the fact that His Highness—who above all things
desires to stand well with the European nations, and who
sees the terrible consequence which must some day fall upon
Egypt if slavery is allowed to continue—would be glad to
make Egypt a free country, but he stands in fear of some
of the more opulent of the European mercantile and financial
class in Egypt, who make enormous profits out of the present
state of things, and are afraid of the effect which any great
change might have upon their pecuniary interests. This
probably is not unknown in the Foreign Office, and, if so,
we must confidently hope that the British Cabinet will
14 THE LOST CONTINENT.
assure the Khedive that he will receive in this matter its
firm and unhesitating support.
If His Highness will decree the entire abolition of
slavery, and accompany the act by the manumission of his
own slaves he will lay a sure foundation for the stability
and happiness of his country,
The Sultan of Onan has decreed that all slaves brought
into his dominions shall be absolutely free. The Ruler of
Vittou and Mongogani, has abolished both slavery and the
slave-trade,—these countries are represented as highly pros-
perous.
There need be no doubt but that Egypt and Turkey can
do the same, and will do it whenever they are made aware
that Great Britain is really in earnest in the matter.
The ambition of the Khedive is to found a great empire
in the Valley of -the Nile; to succeed in this he must
part with slavery—the means are at all times within his
power.
Unhappily, however, of late, instead of taking any step in
the right direction, when he has acted at all in reference to
slavery, he has moved in the direction of strengthening the
institution in Egypt. Previous to 1873 a slave fleeing from
his master might claim his freedom, and in some cases obtain
it. But in the summer of that year His Highness issued an
order to the Chief of the Police to the effect that no slave
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. I5
should obtain his liberty unless his master would come for-
ward and testify that he was not under a charge of stealing
or any other crime.
Of course the masters are not slow to use the pretence
suggested by the Government. The supposed power, there-
fore, of a slave to obtain his liberty on application to the
authorities proves too often a delusion.
Should the present war of aggression prove successful,
of course the newly-annexed dominions will be slave
country.
Will the European Powers, and will America, stand by and
see at the present day a new slave empire created, or rather
an annexation of enormous extent, in which slavery, if not
the slave-trade also, will have full play?
That it will be a Slave Power may be looked upon as
an absolute certainty, provided the annexation takes place
previous to the abolition of slavery in Egypt.
At the present moment England, France and America
may, in a certain sense, be said to patronise slavery in the
East. Their Consuls in those countries appoint agents in
the principal towns and centres who are supporters of slavery
and owners of slaves. Over the roofs of their houses wave
the flags of Christian nations, and under them are the slaves
of these Consular Agents.
It is a melancholy fact that the representatives of England
16 THE LOST CONTINENT.
and America—the two freest nations in the world—should
appear to any extent to be indifferent to the subject, and
should, by some of their arrangements, rather support slavery
than discourage it.
The following remarks are taken from a very important
paper written in Egypt, by Sir Bartle Frere, on his route
to Zanzibar :(—
“It can hardly escape so enlightened a ruler as His
Highness that slavery is in itself a canker which must eat
into the vitals of a country like Egypt, whose prosperity
depends in so large a degree on the industry of the agricul-
tural class. . . . . His Highness expressed a hope that the
stoppage of the supply of slaves from the interior would
ultimately tend towards a gradual diminution and final extinc-
tion of slavery in Egypt. I feel that all experience is against
this expectation. Whilst the demand continues I believe 1t to
be practically impossible to cut off the supply. This is especially
the case where the sources of supply are so many and spread
over so large an area that ages would hardly suffice to
reach them all by separate measures of repression. But if
the demand is extinguished the object is at once effected
and the trade must cease.”
“The Khedive now rules over tens of millions of negroes, of
various races, all prolific, docile, and capable of great physical
as well as moral and intellectual, improvement. But, what-
SLAVERY AND THE SILAVE-TRADE. Ty
ever may be the capacity of the higher races, few, if any,
approach to the standard of civilisation long since reached
by the lowest orders in Egypt proper. What is to be the
destiny of these negro races? Every year decreases the
obstacles to intercourse between the Upper and Lower Nile.
It is quite conceivable and probable that these obstacles may
be so far diminished as the enlightened and advanced projects
of the Khedive for railways, improved navigation of the Nile,
&c., are developed, that the great negro storehouse of labour
may become easily available to Lower Egypt. But on what
conditions ? If slavery did not exist in Egypt, the conditions
would be mutually advantageous to both races. If, however,
slavery continues to exist, free negroes will not come there
voluntarily, and negro labour can only come as slaves and
Helots.”
“What a curse and social canker such a state of things
must prove cannot escape the observation of His Highness
and his advisers, who may see in the various parts of the
world the difficulties arising from an Imperial dynasty of
foreign sovereigns, a rich and luxurious middle class of
natives holding honest free labour in contempt, and a labour-
ing class of Helots and slaves. To those who can imagine
such a condition of society (and % seems to me imminent in
Egypt unless slavery is abolished), it must be evident that
such social conditions are not only unnatural, hideous, and
C
18 THE LOST CONTINENT.
dangerous in themselves, but of a character which no
European civilised power would like to see extended. With
the Lower Nile free soil, the Khedive, ruling over the upper
provinces inhabited by negro races, will be truly at the head
of a constantly advancing African civilisation. All reason-
able civilised men will be glad to see his influence extending.
As matters stand at present they will hesitate to regard his
influence as decidedly beneficent even in the darkest corners
of Central Africa. They will always be asking, “Is His
Highness’s latest acquisition in Central Africa to be a fresh
field for the triumphs of civilisation and order, or a {fresh
hunting-ground for the slave trader ?”
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. Ig
CHAPTER II.
Slave-trade in Affghanistan—The Ameer subsidised by England—
Supplied with Arms used in carrying on the Slave-trade—Slavery
on the Gold Coast—Slavery and the Slave-trade in Madagascar.
IT is perhaps not very surprising, when the extent of the
dominions and dependencies of Great Britain are considered,
that slavery and the slave-trade should sometimes unex-
pectedly be found to exist within its borders, though, when
this is the case, it must be matter of humiliation and regret.
It has recently been brought to light in England, by the
indefatigable Dr. Leitner, the principal of the Government
College at Lahore, that a large and barbarous slave-trade is
carried on by the Ameer of Affghanistan, who is a quasi
feudatory of Great Britain, by whom he is regularly supplied
with improved Snider rifles and a large subsidy.
Barbarous raids are continually carried on, on the neigh-
bouring tribe of Siah Posh Kafirs, which at present num-
bers about 300,000, but is threatened with destruction. The
people are described as a noble race, supposed to be the
descendants of a settlement of Christians of remote antiquity.
Armed only with rude weapons they are unable to resist
C 2
20 THE LOST CONTINENT.
the Affghans with the Sniders supplied to their enslavers by
the Indian Government.
In reference to this subject the Editor of Public Opinion, at
Lahore, wrote in May, 1874 :(—* It is well known, that slaves
ave purchased by British subjects within the boundaries of British
territory, and that many a beautiful Siah Posh girl has been torn
Jrom her relatives and friends, and has ended her days in misery
in the havems of our native fellow-subjects. It is well-known,
to every one well acquainted with the Kafirs, that within the
last few years numerous villages of the Siah Posh have
been conquered by the Affghan Mohammedans, almost solely
on account of the high market value of female slaves from
Kafiristan; and it ought to be well known, although we
believe it is not as well known as it should be, that there are
agents for the purchase of slaves, who carry on their unholy
traffic EVEN IN BRITISH TERRITORY.”
In speaking in a public meeting of the Anti-Slavery
Society in London, Dr. Leitner said :—
‘““ Then comes the case of our ally, the Ameer of Cabool.
Whether he can be called a feudatory is perhaps not techni-
cally correct, but there is not the least doubt that he lives by
our breath, and the prestige which we give him; and in
practically acknowledging his infant son, and giving the
Ameer money and arms, we have certainly assumed the posi-
“tion of a ‘paramount’ power towards him. Now, if he is to
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 21
«deserve our support, all I can say is, that, the paramount’
power being a civilised one, the guasi-feudatory power
should conduct itself as a civilised one also. Now, there
exist under the Ameer some populations more or less
savage, some of which perhaps are not entitled to very
great consideration, but all of which are deserving of
consideration as human beings; others, again, are most
emphatically deserving our protection, and these are the
Siah Posh Kafirs. These Kafirs consider themselves the
brothers of the Europeans—they are neither Hindoos nor
Mohammedans, but it has been said have a sort of guasi Chris-
tianity—increasing as it were, if it could possibly be increased,
our sympathy for them. This is the race that is now suc-
cessfully preyed upon by the Ameer. I say successfully,
because it has been certainly successful since we have pro-
vided the Ameer of Cabool with improved fire-arms. These
people have for ages maintained their independence, and even
the Ameer of Cabool has not been able wholly to conquer
them. Some believe that the Siah Posh Kafirs are descend-
ants of a colony planted by Alexander himself; but whether
‘that be so or not, this race will scon be exterminated, unless
this Society and the public generally move in the matter.
The Russians have done a great deal in stopping slavery
on one side of Central Asia. All honour to the Emperor
Alexander.”
22 THE LOST CONTINENT.
The attention of Lord Salisbury having recently been
turned to this slave-trade there is good ground to believe
that his Lordship, with his usual promptitude, will deal
properly with the affair.
The slavery in the British Settlements on the West Coast
of Africa, which has so long been a reproach to Great
Britain, has now received its death-blow by the decided and
judicious course taken by Lord Carnarvon, but it will require
great watchfulness and firmness on the part of the Foreign
Office if its policy is to become really effectual. It is also
equally necessary that the British public should continue to
take an interest in the case.
The greatest difficulties will probably be those raised by
European merchants.
On this subject it has been well observed :(—
“ The memorials of the native chiefs to the Queen and to
her representative at the Gold Coast are evidently of Euro-
pean origin. They clothe native feelings in civilised ideas
and arguments. These documents might very well have
proceeded from a conference of American or West Indian
planters when emancipation impended over the slave-owners
of the Southern States or Jamaica. We hear prophecies of
the entire destruction of the palm oil trade, and of agricul-
tural production, of the disorganisation of society, of a
servile war, of the impoverishment of the masters and the
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 23
violence of their former slaves, and of another Ashantee
_ invasion, if the policy of immediate manumission, proclaimed
and partially acted upon by Governor Strahan, should be
insisted on. The chiefs appeal—in language familiar in the
mouths of more civilised champions of vested interests—
against the violation of the rights of property. But there is
no help for it now. The position taken up in the proclama-
tion of Governor Strahan cannot be departed from. England
has, prudently or imprudently, charged herself with a work
at the Gold Coast which she must bring, at whatever cost,
to a successful issue. Freedom must exist there as in every
other part of the Queen’s dominions. The deepest convic-
tions of the nation and its keenest sense of honour prohibit
any connivance with slavery within the limits of the British
Empire.”
The position of Madagascar with regard both to slavery
and the slave-trade is anomalous. The importation of
slaves and the conversion of her people to Christianity, run
side by side. The customary atrocities of slavery in other
places are found in Madagascar ;—families are separated
—the slaves bought and sold like cattle. Slave markets
exist in Antananarivo and many other towns. The address
forwarded sometime ago by the Paris Anti-Slavery Bureaux,
to Queen Ranovalomanjake and her prime-minister, Rainil-
aidriodny, has probably at length produced some effect.
24 THE LOST CONTINENT.
A proclamation was issued by the Queen last October,
declaring free all slaves brought into the Island since June,
1865, the date of the treaty made with England, America,
and France, for the suppression of the slave-trade. This,
though only a beginning, is a step forward, and highly
creditable to the Queen of Madagascar.
The position of a missionary in that country, as in all
others where slavery exists, is one of delicacy and difficulty,
but the Gospel should not be separated from its morality.
The lesson taught by the great war in America ought not
to be lost upon the present generation. Had the ministers
of the Christian religion in the United States performed
their duty that war might never have occurred.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 25
CHAPTER III.
Slavery and the Slave-trade in the Portuguese Settlements on the East
Coast of Africa and the African Island of St. Thomas.
THE slave-trade is still extensively carried on in the
Portuguese settlements on the East Coast of Africa. The
Portuguese Government, which is bound by treaty to suppress
it, is generally reticent on the subject, and as we have had
no Consul at Mozambique, the capital of those extensive
settlements, since 1858, it is on rare occasions that the veil
which covers that dark part of Africa is lifted.
The principal traffic in the Mozambique Channel still is
the slave-trade, and probably the principal market beyond
the sea, Madagascar. The Portuguese ministers allege
that the over-sea slave-trade cannot be large, because the
seizure of their vessels is rare.
~ But the traffic is carried on in Arab dhows, and when
seizures take place the Portuguese escape the stigma. "The
following passage from the evidence of Captain Sullivan,
before the Select Committee of the House of Commons,
shows the working of the affair :—
“ Another reason: why the fact of the Portuguese sharing
26 THE LOST CONTINENT.
in this slave-trade does not come under observation is, that
it is carried on by them in Arab dhows, under the Arab flag;
and thus when these vessels are captured, the stigma is cast
on the Sultan. Moreover, they have recently adopted the
title of ¢ free negroes ’ for the slaves, and have established a
system of passports in vessels carrying their own flags, in
consequence of which, detection—or, at any rate, capture
and condemnation—are next to impossible. Ask any of the
ten thousand negroes that crowd the streets of Mozambique
where they come from, and the reply is the same as that of
the slaves captured on board of the dhows :—stolen, dragged
from their homes and families, sold and bought, sold and
bought again, and brought from the markets on the mainland
to this place, where they are worse off than they were before.
“ On the 6th of September, we boarded such a Portuguese
schooner as is referred to above, bound from Quilimane River
south to Mozambique Harbour, with several slaves on board.
Amongst them were four Monginda children, from five to
ten years of age, whom a Banyan (a British subject), of
Mozambique, who was on board, claimed and showed pass-
ports for, under the name of ‘free negroes,’ signed by the
Portuguese authority of Quilimane. These children could
speak no language intelligible either to our interpreter, or to
the Portuguese or Banyans on board the schooner; and
although we put some questions to them, and tried by signs
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 27
to make them understand us, it was all in vain, which proved
~ that they had only recently been brought from the interior.
The case was most palpable, yet we could not take the risk
of detaining the vessel and sending her to the Cape, the
only place to which we could legally send her, on account of
the passports and her unseaworthiness. Never conceiving
it possible, however, that the Governor could have decided
that these children, and the other negroes on board, were not
slaves, I sent her into Mozambique, to obtain his opinion of
destroying her, if they were declared to be slaves. This cer-
tainly was a severe test of the honesty of the profession of the
Portuguese with respect to the abolition of the slave-trade,
and it proved too severe for them. The Governor assured me
that they were ‘free negroes’ and had passports.”
The Blue-Book of 1873 contains the following remarks in
a paper addressed by Captain Elton to Sir Bartle Frere :—
““ At Quilimane and on the Zambesi, on the adjoining
rivers, such as the Mecusa and the Mariagomo, and especially
on the Angoxa, the question of implication in slave traffic
becomes serious, and the extreme difficulty with which reli-
able information can be collected is hardly appreciable to
people at a distance. The involved interest, distrust, and,
above all, the intense jealousy of all foreign interference,
combine to render both a tedious and disagreeable task. The
custom of permitting individuals to own small armies of
28 THE LOST CONTINENT.
slaves has worked the complete destruction of all law, and
the seeds of rebellion have been sown broadcast by the
atrocities which slave-hunting marauders have committed
on tribes whose natural bent it would be to dwell in peace.
“The inland slave-trade cannot be said to have been sup-
pressed. About Christmas 1870, a gang of about one hundred
women and children were brought down from the Shire by a
native chief to the town of Quilimane for sale. I arrived
there from Mozambique about the roth January, 1871, when
the matter was openly talked about, and I saw a number of
the recently-purchased slaves.”
The necessity of a Consul at Mozambique has on several
occasions within the last few years been pressed upon the
British Government, and more recently has been strongly
recommended by Sir Bartle Frere.
Such an appointment, if suitably made, could scarcely fail
to assist both in the suppression of the slave-trade, and
slavery, and in the substitution of lawful commerce in its place.
But everything depends upon the selection of the right man.
Although Portugal has passed more than one Act for the
abolition of slavery, she is still a slave-holding Power.
In the year 1858 Portugal passed a law declaring that
Slavery should be entirely suppressed throughout her depend--
encies in twenty years. In 1869 she passed another law, the
first article of which runs thus—
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 29
¢ The condition of slavery is abolished throughout all the
territories of the Portuguese monarchy, from the date of publi-
cation of the present decree.” :
But the third article provides that the services of the said
freedmen shall pertain to the persons to whom they
had previously belonged, thus rendering the act perfectly
valueless. A man in such a position is a slave by whatever
name he may be called.
Slavery exists not only in the East African settlements
of Portugal, but also, so far as is known, in her little island
of St. Thomas, on the West Coast.
To this island a species of slave-trade was carried on under
the name of libertos, so recently as 1866.
Portugal should now pass an Act making slavery illegal
in all her possessions, and the slave-trade piracy. In no
other way will she be able to fulfil her Treaty engagements,
and by no other course will she effect so much for the good
of her subjects. Portugal was the first to introduce slavery
and the slave-trade, let her not be the last to abolish them.
One thing redounds to the honour of the present King of
Portugal and his ministers—they have abolished the slave-
trade recently carried on between Macao and Peru. In that
traffic it is humiliating to know that the number of British
vessels employed was greater than those of any other nation,
It is not very satisfactory to know that about the time
30 THE LOST CONTINENT.
the British Government was engaged in pleading with the
Portuguese Government to suppress the Chinese coolie traffic
at Macao, it should have been treating with the Viceroy of
Canton for the reopening of the traffic to the West Indies.
This permission having been obtained, the public ought to
be informed, how many of the British Slavers rendered idle
at Macao are to be employed in conveying the Chinese to
Demarara and the other English colonies. Many of the
vessels have been built in British ports, and are furnished
with iron gratings and other slave-trade equipments, stored
away in the hold ready to be brought out and fixed when
the vessel is clear of the British waters, or on arrival at the
port of embarkation.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 3X
CHAPTER 1V,
Slavery in Brazil—Rapid Decrease in the number of Slaves—Extra-
ordinary Death-Rate—Inefficiency of the Abolition Law of 1871—
Urgent Necessity of Freedom.
THERE is a common but mistaken notion that slavery has
been abolished in Brazil. The Christian Emperor of Brazil
still rules over the largest slave population in the world.
The present number of slaves in his dominions is about a
million and a half. In 1818, according to a census made by
order of King John, the number was two millions. This
shows a decrease of half a million. But to this decrease
must be added the number of fresh slaves introduced into
Brazil from Africa between 1818 and 1851, during the greater
part of which time the slave-trade was carried on in violation
of treaties with Great Britain.
The late Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, in 1839, estimated
the number of Africans introduced at that time into Brazil
at the rate of one hundred thousand per annum. |
Writing in 18309, he says: “I should conjecture that the
real amount would be moderately rated at one hundred
thousand, brought annually into these five Brazilian ports.
»
32 THE 1.0ST CONTINENT.
But as the question is, not how many I suppose, but how
many I can show to be landed, I must confine myself to what
I can prove—and I have proved that seventy-eight thousand
three hundred and thirty-one were landed at five ports in
Brazil, in the course of twelve months, ending at the oth
June, 1830.”
What has become of the absolute decrease of the half-
million, and the total imports of seventy or a hundred thou-
sand fresh victims per annum through a long course of years ?
What are the causes which have produced a death-rate like
this? Private manumissions have been numerous; but they
will not materially account for such a result.
M. Passy, in speaking on this subject in the Academy of
Science in Paris in 1870, stated, on the authority of M.
; Gobineau, the French Minister at the Brazilian Court, that
the number of slaves then in Brazil was two millions in
| place of four millions in 1852. Whether these figures be
: perfectly accurate or not, there can be no doubt that a rate
of mortality exists which cannot be accounted for on the
‘score of the climate of the country, which is peculiarly
adapted to the negro race, or by any known satisfactory cause.
In view of such an appalling decrease in the labouring
population of the country, it is not surprising that the
statesmen of Brazil should see the necessity of attracting
emigrants to the country. They have made many attempts
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 33
in this direction, but so far without success. In every
country slavery, by degrading labour, keeps free men out
of the field; this was the case in the Southern States of
America previous to the civil war. Emigrants from all
parts of the world flocked into the free states, but they in-
variably shunned the slave states.
To these facts, patent to everybody else, the Brazilian
statesman shuts his eyes. The Empire of Brazil is almost
the largest in the world, with virgin lands and resources that
might be turned into marvellous blessings, not only to the
people of Brazil, but to all civilized nations.
In every point of view the interest of Brazil would be pro-
moted by a law for the entire removal of slavery. There
appeared some probability that such a measure would be
enacted in 1871, when the Liberal party was in power, and a
Bill was prepared, which, though defective and insufficient,
was intended in good faith to put an end to slavery. But
the Conservative party in Brazil got the upper hand, and
though originally opposed to all interference with slavery,
passed an Act to prevent what they thought a worse thing
from befalling them. :
The Act passed bears the marks of its parentage, and under
it slavery may yet last fifty years. The slaves belonging to
the State and the religious houses were to be set free; but
the bulk of the slaves are left in hopeless bondage for life.
D
34 THE LOST CONTINENT.
The children born of slave mothers after the passing of the
Act were to be free, but are to ‘“ remain in the power and to
be under the authority of the owners, till the age of twenty-
one.”
As there are many noble-minded men in Brazil opposed to
the further continuance of slavery, and as there ‘is no pre-
judice against colour or race in that country, there are fewer
difficulties than usual in dealing with the evil. It is, besides,
well known that the Emperor desires to see slavery disappear
from his dominions.
If this be done in safety it must be done in time, for sooner
or later Providence vindicates His own laws.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 33
CHAREER:YV.
The Asiatic Slave-trade—The French Colonies— British West Indies
and Mauritius—Chinese in Peru.
WHILST the attention of the world is so imperiously called
to the slave-trade in Africa, it must not be overlooked that a
new slave-trade has sprung up within the last forty years,
under the name of Immigration.
As the late Honorable Charles Sumner truly observed,
the old enemy has started up under an alias.
Boston, 8th September, 1869.
My peEAR MR. COOPER,—
I acknowledge with pleasure your favour of the
4th August, and am glad to see our Anti-Slavery friends moving
against the old enemy under an alias—[the labour traffic].
In conformity with your suggestion I have requested the De-
partment of State to direct our Consuls and Consular Agents to
make the desired inquiries. . .
I send you the letter of Senator Nabuco, of Brazil, on Eman-
cipation, forwarded to me by the Brazilian Legation, at the
request of the Senator.
In acknowledging it, I felt it my duty to say that the Senator
himself did not go far enough :—that the longer continuance
D2
36 THE LOST CONTINENT.
of Slavery is inconsistent with the civilisation of the age,"
besides being essentially wrong; and that it ought to be ter-
minated at once. Of this I have no doubt. Slavery will end
very soon in Cuba. It cannot remain much longer in Brazil.
This earth will be fairer when this terrible blot is erased.
I am grieved that you should not see my speech in its true
character. It was an honest effort to state our case so that
England should know it, believing that the first duty of States-
manship is to remove all existing grievances between two
countries, which cannot be done until the grievance is under-
stood. There must be a diagnosis of the case before the remedy
is discussed.
In what I do now, I act according to those early sentiments of
Peace, which are the dearest to my heart. I complain now of
England as opening the way to war, God forbid !
Believe me, my dear friend,
Sincerely yours,
CHARLES SUMNER.
To oppose free migration from one part of the world to
another at the present day, would be simply absurd—to
oppose the slave-trade under any name is a necessity.
That the working of the present system of Immigration
is not equally injurious in every country may be admitted;
but in all there are certain features that will not bear exami-
nation. The vice of the immigration system as now carried
on is, that it converts man into property. Previous to
embarkation the immigrant must sign a contract, and imme-
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 37
diately the contract is signed he becomes the property of
another. The contract is a chain round his neck on-his
landing at his destination. He is then as much marketable
property as an ordinary slave.
The immigrants are in fact bought and sold like cattle,
and in some countries the planter ordinarily puts the
question : “What is the price of coolies to-day ’—just as
a merchant in London or Paris would inquire the rate of
Exchange or the price of the Funds.
The deplorable condition of the Chinese immigrants in
Cuba has often been described. Captain F. Trench Towns-
hend in his work just published, as the result of personal
observation, writes :—
“Though the fate of the poor African slave in Cuba is
horrible, that of the unfortunate Asiatic, who is serving
under contract, struck me as even more pitiable.
“The wan face, feeble frame, and dejected looks of the
wretched Chinamen were absolutely painful to see. Having
enjoyed the blessings of freedom up to the hour when his
evil fate led him to quit his native country, the poor China-
man is ill-treated on board ship in a fearful manner, and on
reaching Cuba is bought, sold, subjected to the lash, and
compelled to work like the negro slaves. Against such
treatment his natural intelligence and inborn sense of free-
dom rebel, and he either runs away and engages in some
38 THE LOST CONTINENT.
trade in the large towns or goes about a miserable heart-
broken wretch. The law forbids their being subjected to the
lash, or the sale of the contract against the will of the
Chinaman contracted for; but in both respects the law is
set at nought, and the Cuban buys and flogs his Chinese
slave openly and with impunity. I asked what became of
the Chinaman when his seven years’ contract was ended. I
was answered that the Government then got hold of them,
so that not even after seven or more years of slavery does
the unfortunate Chinaman regain his liberty.
“That there was any course short of absolute prohibition
of the export of coolies to the Spanish West Indies, and the
forcible prevention of the traffic by the English fleet, likely
to be of any benefit to poor John Chinaman, none, among
those best able to judge, believed.”
Tae FrencaH COLONIES.
In the French Colonial possessions great oppression is
known to exist—the coolies are marketable property, and
have no such thing as efficient protection. A Commission of
Inquiry into the whole subject was appointed in Paris last
year, at the instance of M. Scheelcher, the gentleman to
whom the credit of the abolition of slavery in the French
colonies in 1848 is mainly due. The Report which is prepared
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 39
has not yet been printed, but it is said that it will contain a
sad exposure of the existing state of things.
This may be inferred from the ‘Report of the Under
Secretary for India, in reference to the coolies in Réunion,
moved for last summer, by Edward Jenkins, Esq., M.P., at
the request of the Aborigines Protection Society.
This report: states that, “in 1877, there were 771 com-
plaints to the Consul. Of these 31°g were for non-payment
of wages, 30,649 francs being claimed and 6,530 recovered.
There were 230 charges of ill-treatment, in six of which
convictions were obtained, and 137 charges of breach of con-
tract, with 55 convictions. The results in the remainder,
as in 85 cases of ‘ minor claims,’ were not ascertained. In
these last two years the complaint of excessive hours of
labour being exacted is distinctly formulated by the Consul.
Manifestly complaints made to the Consul only exhibit the
extremest cases; and there is reason to believe that the
powers of the police were called into play to prevent access
to the Consul, or to punish those who asserted their right.
But as the reports are admittedly one-sided, and the Secre-
tary of State has been urged to have the whole question
investigated, it will be well not to dogmatise here. The
following figures, however, speak for themselves: —In 1868
there were 19,069 committals to gaol, while 10,694 persons
were sent to the ateliers de discipline. ‘That is to say, there
40 THE LOST CONTINENT.
were 29,763 cases of punishment out of a population of
180,000. According to Captain Segrave, 75 per cent. of
these cases occurred among labourers, and 80 per cent. of
the labourers were Indians. He estimates that more than
one-third of the Indian population was continually in gaol.
This must perhaps be taken cum grano,” but it will remind
the reader of the state of things in British West Indies,
during the apprenticeship which preceded the total abolition
of slavery.
The condition of the coolies in the other French colonies,
Cayenne, Guadaloupe, and Martinique, has been described in
the public press as at least no better than that in Réunion.
THE MAURITIUS AND THE BriTisH WEST INDIES.
In the British West Indies the condition of the coolies
varies much, but it cannot be said to be satisfactory in any
of the Islands, whilst in the Mauritius cruelty and oppression
have been rife.
This view has been denied by some who have resided in
the Mauritius, and who, therefore, ought to know; but, un-
happily for the statements of such people, the Report of the
Police Commission of Inquiry instituted by the Governor,
Sir A. H. Gordon, and printed with a thick volume of
evidence, has, in the main, confirmed all the charges brought
against the system.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 41
These charges were contained in a petition to the Governor
signed by more than 9,000 old immigrants, that is immi-
grants who had worked out their contracted period of service
and therefore ought to have become once more free men.
The details furnish a pitiable case of oppression, which has
scarcely found its parallel in modern times.
In order, as it would appear, to compel the coolie to enter
a second time into contract, every obstacle has been placed
in the way of his maintaining himself by free labour. He
is not to move without a pass; he must carry a descriptive
ticket and his portrait wherever he goes; he is not even
to work without a licence. The police may stop him any-
where, and enter his dwelling at any hour of the day or
night. He must produce all these things, and if any in-
accuracy be detected, though it may not have arisen from
any fault of his own, he may be thrown at once into prison.
M. De Plevitz, a French gentlemen, performed a great
service to humanity in rendering the coolies facilities for
putting forward their wrongs.
The report of the Commission opens with the words :—
“We have found the statements in the Petition, although
put in an exaggerated form, to be mainly justified by the
law as it exists, under the ordinance of 1867, and the execu-
tive regulations following thereon.”
The Commissioners proposed the repeal of a considerable
42 THE 1.0ST CONTINENT.
number of the existing oppressive regulations—and also the
repeal of the charge of one pound for a ticket, five shillings
for a permit to work, two shillings for a photograph, and “the
licence duty of one pound imposed upon day labourers.”
How far these suggestions have been adopted is not yet
known. A Royal Commission was appointed in June, 1872,
which has not yet reported owing to the lamented illness of
the Chief Commissioner.
It is too late now to dwell much on the origin of the
coolie system in the British West Indies. When emanci-
pation took place, though the institution of slavery was
gone, the spirit of it remained in the island, and in the
hearts of the people it had cursed.
Low wages, irregular payments, or no payments at all,
exorbitant cottage rents and fraudulent exactions drove the
labourers from the estates to seek a livelihood in other ways.
Hence the want of labour so far as it did exist, and the
attempt to obtain a cheap supply. But the present system,
mixed up as it is with fraud in its origin and force in its
working, is probably the most expensive that can be employed.
The excellent clergyman Henry Clark, of Trinity, Jamaica,
says that he has often conversed with the more intelligent
coolies, but that he never met with one who did not say that
he had been deceived in India, nor one who did not view his
going to Jamaica as a calamity.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 43
Tue CHINESE IN PERU.
No words can describe the lot of the Chinese in Peru.
The system commenced in 1849, between which year and
1869, it appears that ninety thousand Chinese have perished
in Peru. What are the causes which have produced this
fearful mortality?
The truest causes may probably be found in an important
paper submitted by Mr. Murrow, to a meeting of the Asso-
ciation for the Promotion of Social Science, in the latter
year.*
Mr. Murrow states that the rate of mortality on the
passage from China to Peru in immigrant ships has certainly
been twenty-five per cent. But the principal mortality takes
place after arrival in Peru. The coolies in guano work are
goaded to their labour under the lash. The taskmasters are
tall, African negroes, ‘‘ who are armed with a lash of four
* What number of coolies have been sent from China to Peru since
1849 to the present time, I have no means of ascertaining, but certainly
many more than 100,000. How many of these may be now living it
is mere conjecture to compute. I feel pretty sure that not one hundred
have ever returned to their native country (notwithstanding that the
contracts express a servitude of five years only), so that the number
remaining at present in Peru will correctly indicate the residue. I fancy
10,000 would be found considerably over the mark.—“ The Coolie
Trade from China to Pern.” 7. J. Murrow, Esq.
44 THE LOST CONTINENT.
plaits of cow-hide, five feet in length, and an inch and a half
thick, tapering to a point.” This weapon is little used during
the early part of the day, but about four o’clock in the after-
noon it is put in constant requisition, for the purpose of com-
pelling the coolies, who, from weakness or other cause, fall
short in the completion of their allotted task.
“The slightest resistance is punished by a flogging, little
short of murder, the first six or twelve cuts stifling the
agonising cries which ring through the fleet. There is no
tying-up, the nearest Chinaman being compelled, by a cut of
the lash, to lay hold of an arm or leg, and stretch the miser-
able sufferer on his stomach on the guano. The mere weight
alone of the lash makes their bodies shake, blackening their
flesh at every blow, besides cutting into it like a sabre, and
when a convulsive movement takes place a subordinate
places his boot on the shoulders to keep the quivering body
down.”
On this subject, in commenting on the able speech of
Sir Charles Wingfield, in the House of Commons in 1873,
the Times says :(—
“In Peru the fate of the imported coolies is even more abomi-
nable, They are sent to work in the guano pits on the islands
which produce that unsavoury wealth; they are beaten and
chained and passed by bargain and sale from master to master,
just as the negro slaves in the sugar plantations of the Southern
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 45
States used to be. There is a military force to guard them, and
to crush any violence to which despair may drive even the most
patient and timid of men. Hope of escape, save by death, there
is none; and hence suicide is a common practice, regularly
estimated in the probable cost of the labour supply. This ghastly
picture is confirmed in its bold outlines and its broad colours by
the sober testimony of the official correspondence which has been
laid before Parliament.”
Mr. Thomas, the American Minister at Lima, writing to
the Secretary of State at Washington, in 1873, says :—
“Having made careful inquiry on the subject, I am prepared
to say that the treatment of these unfortunate Chinese, thus
forced violently from their homes by the landholders of Peru, by
whom crowds of them are employed, is more harsh than that to
which slaves in the United States were formerly subjected.”
To recruit free men in China, imprison them in baracoons,
guard them with soldiers, induce them to sign contracts,
convey them to Peru and on arrival compel them by force to
labour in the guano pits, is that which it might have been
supposed no man could have been found to defend, but
apologists have occasionally made their appearance, which
shows that a man may be blinded with guano as effectually
as with gold.
It not unfrequently happens that when statements of op-
pression and cruelty abroad find their way into the public press
46 THE LOST CONTINENT.
they are quickly followed by the counter-statements of those
who have visited the countries where these evils are alleged
to have taken place. The case of Peru forms no exception.
The public are occasionally assured by eye-witnesses who
have visited some of the larger haciendas in that country that
all is right ; that the employers of labour, whether in town or
country, are among the kindest and most considerate people
on earth, and as to the Government of Peru it is most
paternal, and watches over the Chinaman with the most
solicitous care for his comfort and well-being.
It is not to be supposed that these statements are either
altogether untrue, or that they are not, in some instances,
published in good faith by those who make them.
Among the hundreds of large establishments in Peru, there
are doubtless some where kindness and justice are the rule.
The traveller not only sees on these estates nothing to offend
his sense of justice, but on others also nothing comes before
him to which he can take exception—they are all in holiday
trim while he is there—he is hospitably entertained, and
returns to his own country the warm advocate and defender
of he knows not what. He has only seen the surface
of things and his impressions are utterly at variance
with the testimony of residents in Peru, both private and
official.
These remarks equally apply to what has occasionally
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 47
taken place in British Colonies and foreign countries. The
same thing prevailed during the struggle in this country for
the Abolition of Slavery in the West Indies.
The number of eye-witnesses to the perfect happiness and
prosperity of the slave was so great that the work of abolition
seemed likely to be impeded in its progress, and probably
would have been so had not the death-rate in the West
Indies providentially turned up. When it was found that
the census showed a decrease in eleven years of fifty-three
thousand souls these commendations of slavery lost their force.
A new Treaty has just been negotiated between the Em-
peror of China and Peru, providing for the continuance or
renewal of Chinese coolie traffic.
The provisions of the treaty, with one exception, appear
fair on the face; but it is to be regretted that any treaty
should have been entered into pending the inquiry then
being made by a Chinese Commissioner in Peru.
The British Envoy in Pekin has had a hand in the negocia-
tion.» His intentions are not to be doubled; but as no
treaty, however worded, can put an end to the mischief of
the present system, it is deeply to be regretted that if called
in at all, he did not enter his emphatic protest against
the whole affair. Of course the Chinese Commission of
Inquiry in Peru is at an end. The Commissioners have
returned to Shanghai—the first unfavourable fruit of the
48 THE LOST CONTINENT.
new treaty. It is stated that another Commission is to be
appointed, which must, however, be taken for what it is worth.
All that has taken place in Peru, for the last twenty-five
years, ought not to have been overlooked, neither should it
have been forgotten that the Peruvian Government have
made many promises of amendment which have never been
fulfilled. In the list of property for sale coolies still figure
with sheep, oxen and pigs. No treaties can cure the present
state of things, the system is bad and the contract made in
China is the vice of it.
It is stated that the Peruvian Government has decided to
take the immigration system into its own hands, in order to
prevent in future the fearful mortality which has occurred at
sea. This, as far as it goes, may be successful, but it does
not touch the main objections to the system. The immigrant
enters the country in bonds, can neither choose his master or
his employment, and is bought and sold at the market price.
Another argument put forth is that many of the Chinese
have become prosperous in Lima, the capital. It would be
strange if, out of such enormous numbers, some had not
survived and done well for themselves. But the proportion
of such is so trifling that it cannot be successfully advanced
in defence of the system.
There are it is true a number of respectable Chinese mer-
cantile firms in Lima, but they are mainly composed of
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 49
Chinese from California—free emigrants who have never
been brought under the bonds of labour contracts.
It is asserted that the intentions of the Peruvian Govern-
ment are good, and its laws humane; but even if this be true,
it is well known that the executive is extremely weak even in
the towns,—as to the outlying and distant haceindos, where
the Chinese are principally employed, it is absolutely power-
less.
The Patria, a Peruvian paper, writing about a year ago,
remarks :(—
“The corporeal punishment applied to the Asiatics, who
from whatever motive may have made themselves amenable
to correction, is extremely severe; it consists of lashes laid
on in a manner which recalls, and even goes beyond, the
barbarity of the Russian Knout, as it was practised during
the existence of serfdom.
“The overseers who look after them are of an infinitely
lower moral type than those who have been infamously im-
mortalised by those who have written about slavery.
“ Hundreds of these same workmen do their daily work,
and retire to their sheds laden with chains, in the same
manner as galley-slaves who fulfil their sentence labouring
on public works. By what right do the masters of coolies
use these penalties, or means of security, or how can they
be justified ?
50 THE 1.0ST CONTINENT.
“The system of alimentation is quite deficient for the
preservation and restoration of their strength; this, in a
great measure, explains the numbers of blind Chinese which
we see in our streets.
“Let Peruvian patriotism listen attentively, and the
Christian charity which doubtless exists in the country hear
what we are about to say. The negro slave on the Cuban
ingenios is not so miserable, by a long way, as the contracted
coolie who comes to till the fields of Peru.”
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 51
CHAPTER VI.
The Fiji Islands—The Contract System.
Tue annexation of Fiji has been quickly followed by the
introduction of the Polynesian Labour Act of 1868.
The proclamation of the temporary Governor provides that
the Act shall be the law under which the import of labour
shall be regulated in Fiji, but that in some respects it shall
be subject to modification. What changes are likely to be
made are not yet fully known. But the Act is unsound
in principle, and is in many respects so defective that it is
impossible to view its introduction without regret. It will
probably be generally admitted that it has not effected any
of the objects for which it was passed.
When the Act first reached this country from Queens-
land, its various provisions were carefully examined by
M. Chamerovzow, many years the able Secretary of the
Anti-Slavery Society, and the result presented in due form
to the Duke of Buckingham, then Secretary for the Colonies.
The statement did not at the time receive the attention it
deserved, but the working of the Act has vindicated the
views then set forth.
52 THE LOST CONTINENT.
Since the Act passed, the Carl outrage, with many other
atrocities, have taken place; some of the islands have been
depopulated, and white life is now everywhere more insecure.
That the Brisbane Act should have been thus hurriedly
introduced into Fiji is deeply to be regretted. If the latest
accounts from residents in the Fijis are correct, many of the
more remote districts are at the present time scenes of
oppression and cruelty never exceeded in the worst days of
the worst slave colony.
The Earl of Carnarvon has made a wise choice in
appointing Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon to the Governor-
ship of Fiji. His Excellency has proved himself possessed
of the highest qualifications for the arduous post: but it
would surely have been wiser to have allowed time for him
to reach his post previous to taking steps it may be difficult
to retrace.
The Fijis in British hands ought to have been made
absolutely free and not contract labour settlements, with a
population half free—half in bonds.
Neither treaties, laws, or regulations, will avail to remove
the evils of the present system. The contract system is the
root of the mischief and must be abolished. It is agreed on
all hands that the ignorant victims cannot comprehend the
meaning of these contracts, and that no explanation can
enable them to do so. The immigrants are in most cases
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. £3
alike ignorant of the language of the country to which they
are taken, the kind of work they are expected to do, of the
cost of living, and the climate. Bishop Patteson,* in refe-
rence to the South Sea Islanders said, “I do not believe it
possible for any traders to make a bond fide contract with any
of the natives.” The contracts are a fraud, and therefore
not morally binding; this being so, they ought not to be
made out of the country where the labour has to be done.
If made, they ought not to be binding in law. By such a
provision many of the evils of the present system would be
remedied, and the right sort of people only might be expected
to emigrate.
The Government of the United States does not recognise
these contracts, and has made it felony for American ships to
carry coolies under labour contracts in any part of the world.
In countries where all is, in the main, fair and right, such
contracts are not needed, they are only required where the
labour is forced and not properly requited.
In reference to this subject Sir C. Wingfield has remarked: —
“My hostility is confined to emigration carried on by the
machinery of crimps, barracoons, agencies, and contracts which
are merely instruments of coercion, and are not needed for coun-
tries that offer real inducements to emigration. Thus Sir
F. Bruce writes, ‘A Chinaman’s object in emigrating is the ac-
* See Appendix C.
54 THE LOST CONTINENT.
quisition of wealth, and in the Straits full play is given to this
motive by leasing land to him for sugar cultivation; but he will
not work as a slave, especially if he finds advantage has been
taken of him to obtain his labour at less than the market rates.’
This remark is the key to the whole emigration question. A man
emigrates to make his position better, not worse. To the countries
which I have named the Chinese flock in crowds. Between China
and California, especially, there is a constant stream of Chinese
going and returning, owing to the facilities afforded by a splendid
line of steamers. There is no instance on record of a rising on
board any one of these vessels. The mortality is not above the
death-rate on land. Sir R. MacDonell, who made the voyage in
one of these steamers with 1,200 coolies on board, testifies to
this. Such emigration is beneficial to the Chinese themselves;
but I utterly deny that any improving or civilising influences can
be imparted under a system by which the so-called emigrants are
kidnapped and coerced, and pass their lives in slavery, under
masters who are governed by no motive but cupidity.”
The Government of Japan has recently absolutely pro-
hibited these contracts on the ground of their immorality.
The United States of America have marked their sense of
the dishonesty of these contracts by an Act of Congress
making it a penal offence to carry any indentured Chinese
under their flag. A writer in the Times asks why Great
Britain does not follow the example, and purge the country
from all complicity with the acts of slavers and kidnappers.
A fair remuneration for labour, cheap passage, the aid of
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 55
friends and relatives, would be found sufficient to induce
immigrants to flock to those countries where labour is re-
quired, and where their condition would be made better.
In the later days of British West Indian slavery, ‘‘ wages
or the whip” became an axiom; the same idea may now be
conveyed in the words ‘‘ wages or the contract.”
In addition to all the other evils involved in the system is
that of temporary serfdom. When an estate is sold, the
coolies go with the property and the other live-stock, and
they have no more power to choose their masters than have
the cattle on the estate. Thus it is seen, in the present
day, that while one great nation puts an end to serfdom,
another makes a beginning.
Few things in past times have gained for England more
honour in the world than the testimony she has borne
against slavery and the slave-trade. Her exertions and her
sacrifices to put down these evils have commanded the
respect of all nations, and have given her an influence that
should enable her to complete the work.
But, unless a change speedily takes place, this influence
will be impaired, if not destroyed. It cannot be otherwise
when the true character and inherent evils of the contract
labour traffic come to be generally known. This conse-
quence will not be obviated by any of the arguments com-
monly adduced in defence of the system. The most potent
56 THE LOST. CONTINENT.
of these is, perhaps, the statement that the produce of the
colonies has been increased by it. The same reason might
with equal force have been adduced in defence of slavery
and the old slave-trade itself. In fact, this was the main
argument of the importers of slaves formerly, and con-
sidered a justification which rendered an appeal to moral
considerations and the interests of humanity as altogether
unnecessary.
It would, however, be a great mistake to imagine that the
prosperity of the colonies could not be increased by other
and legitimate means. But were it not so, the pecuniary
interest of proprietors ought not surely to override all other
considerations, and to blind the country to the guilt, misery,
and destruction of life which have marked the contract
system.
To the United States and several other parts of the world
coolies find their way in large numbers, because they are
free and obtain the market price for their labour. This is
the system to which England must come, if her colonies
also are to be abundantly supplied with labour on conditions
not immoral.
It has been the custom of the British Government not to
allow coolies to be introduced into slave colonies. The
reasons for this course are obvious, and certainly apply with
great force to Fiji, where all the evils of slavery are known
a
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 57
to exist. In writing recently on this subject to the Fiji
Times, the ““ Rev.” Frederick Langham, District Chairman
of the Wesleyan Missions, gives, in detail, a large number
of cases of cruelty and oppression, which plainly show that,
“in all its leading features, slavery exisis in Fiji in iis
most odious and revolting character.”
It must not be imagined that the South Sea Islanders’
Protection Act will put an end to the new species of slave-
trade among the Polynesian Islands. How far this Act is
working in the right direction may, in part, be seen by the
following letter recently received fiom the “ Rev.” R. H.
Codrington, the successor of the lamented Bishop Patteson:—
“On August 3oth we were ashore at Ureparapara; a
vessel was then lying in the bay, which we were told was
‘a good ship,’ 7.e. a trader in béche la mer, or something
of that sort. We accordingly paid no attention to it, till,
coming down from the village, we were told that it was ‘a
thief ship,’ 4.2. a labour vessel; and that several Motlay
people had swam away from her in the night, because they
had been improperly got, and that there were others who
wanted to escape, but were afraid of the captain. John
Selwyn and I went on board with a Motlay man, through
whom we could perfectly well communicate with the boys
in question by means of Mota. Four boys—one a Christian
out of our school—declared to the face of the Government
58 THE LOST CONTINENT.
Agent through his own interpreter (for he refused to have
anything to do with ours), that they did not wish to go to
Queensland, and had not been properly engaged. Their
story was that they had been asked to come on board by
the native agent to see him, and then, on a boat coming
back from the shore, had been told that it had been settled
with their friends that they were to go—had been ‘bought.’
I cannot tell, nor can any one, whether this was all true.
I have ascertained since that when the boys went on board
they never told any one they were going to Queensland.
But observe, the Government Agent, whose business it is
to see that no natives are engaged without a deal of printed
form, is told by his own man, in English, that the boys do
not, and did not, wish to go as ‘labour,’ and he refuses
to give them up, in his own written words, because ‘he
considered that it was greatly on the impulse of the moment
that they stated their wish to return.” He undertook, if, on
his return from the Torres Islands, they were in the same
mind, to return them; but of course they never returned.
Consider what an absolute farce this is: the man keeps boys
who declare to his face that they have been deceived, and do
not want to go, because in his own mind he feels sure that
when they came on board they did wish to go. The boys
are carried off because Mr. Pelham Obbard, the Govern-
ment Agent, takes the evidence of his own judgment,
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 59
that they came willingly on board to go to Queensland,
when they declare they came on board to visit a country-
2”
man.
But not only do the evils of slavery exist in Fiji, but the
slave-trade also.
The cost of passage-money between the Islands and Fiji
generally ranges between twenty and forty shillings per
head; but the cost of delivering natives freight free in Fiji
varies from £10 to £15, according to demand and supply.
This latter is all called passage-money, though in reality it
comprised the bribes given to the chiefs or connections of
the victims and the costs of kidnapping. ¢ On the arrival
of fresh Polynesians in Levuka, they are sold to the
planters like any other prticle of commerce.”
Had the Government of the United States, instead of
England, annexed the Fijis the laws of America would have
effectually prevented the introduction of the contract system,
with the frauds inseparable from it. Neither the South Sea
slave-trade nor slavery in any form could then have found a
place. No man would have been converted into property.
The market price would have been paid for labour, and so
soon as the islanders found that it was to their interest to
take their labour to Fiji the supply would have been as
abundant there as it is in America, and probably in every
really free country in the world.
60 THE LOST CONTINENT.
CHAPTER VII
Slavery in Cuba—The Slave-Trade Treaties—Destruction of Life—
Working of Slavery on the Estates—Captain Townshend’s Visit—
Fashionable Prejudice—Conduct of the Blacks: testimony of
Governors of Jamaica—Leeward Islands.
IN the Spanish island of Cuba, as nearly as can be ascer-
tained, there are 369,000 slaves at the present time.
Between the years 1814 and 1845, five Treaties or Conven-
tions for the suppression of the slave-trade were entered into
between Great Britain and Spain. The second treaty was
made in 1817, when Great Britain paid Spain £400,000 for
her absolute engagement to put an end to the slave-trade.
At this date there were 199,145 slaves in Cuba.
Subsequent to this the slave-trade was carried on in viola-
tion of treaty obligations for a period of about fifty years.
The traffic was contraband by Spanish law as well as under
British treaty for which Spain had received her price.
The exact number of slaves which have been thus surrep-
titiously introduced into Cuba from Africa, in violation of the
treaties, never can be known. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton,
in 1838, computed it at 60,000 annually. Local witnesses
SLAVERY AND THE .SLAVE-TRADE. 61,
at that time placed it at 100,000 per annum. This does
not include the number of those slaughtered in Africa, or
those who perished in the middle passage.
Looking carefully over all the information that has been
published from time to time, a low estimate would show
that a million and a quarter of slaves have been introduced
since the earlier treaties were made. Supposing the last
census to be correct, a million of men are missing—what has
become of them?
Perhaps an answer to this question may be found in the
account given of a recent visit to Cuba, in an interesting
volume just published by Captain Trench Townshend.*
Being desirous to see slavery as it really exists, Captain
Townshend obtained permission to visit a sugar plantation
near Havana.
“Qutside the crushing-house fifty or sixty negro children,
apparently from six to twelve years old, of both sexes, were
occupied piling the canes on the elevator which conveyed them
to the crushing-wheel, fresh loads being constantly brought in
ox-waggons from the fields. Toiling away for their very lives in
the broiling sunshine, the poor little wretches kept a constant eye
on a formidable cow-hide whip, wielded by a negro who stood
by ready to crack it across their bare backs if they attempted to
idle, or eat the sugar-cane.
% «Wild Life in Florida, and a Visit to Cuba,” by E. Trench
Townshend, B.A. Hurst & Blackett. 1875.
62 THE LOST CONTINENT.
« From the mill we proceeded to the negro barracks, as their
quarters are termed, consisting of brick buildings one story high,
enclosing a large square, entered through double iron gates. As
we passed in two ferocious-looking Cuban bloodhounds, chained
one on either side of the gate, sniffed suspiciously near our legs,
but, being trained to run down or attack negroes only, did
not molest us.
“On the ground-floor, opening on to the courtyard, were the
negroes’ rooms, secured by heavily-barred and padlocked doors.
Opening one of these we found ourselves in one of the most
horrible dens imaginable. Walls black with dirt, uneven clay
floors about fourteen feet square, no means of admitting daylight
or air except by the door; a wooden table, bench and bedstead,
the sole furniture. On the latter hung the remnants of a filthy
blanket, while the worst filth covered the floor, furniture, and
walls, which also were alive with vermin. In each of these
pestiferous dungeons a whole family lived, in a condition more
foul and degraded than any beasts of the field. We looked into
several and found them alike, while from an open drain, a few
feet from the doors, a most sickening stench proceeded. .
“In quarters, the Chinese were considerably better off, occupy-
ing separate huts at some distance from the negro barracks, and
living entirely by themselves. Nominally not subject to the
lash, in reality they experience the same treatment as the
African, and are compelled to work the same time—eighteen
hours a-day in the busy season—a fearful task in such a climate.
. « . « By the Moret law, every child born in Cuba is free,
and every negro becomes free on attaining the age of sixty. I
asked how this law worked? The answer was, that the Moret
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 63
law compels the children to work in return for their maintenance
up to their eighteenth year. So, as yet, it has made no difference,
while the few negroes who live to the age of sixty, are then unfit
for work, and a good riddance to the planter. The average
duration of life of an imported African is, I was told, little more
than five years, if worked as a field-hand on a plantation. On
some of the Cuban plantations the slaves live less miserably
than on others, but on all they are compelled to work to a cruel
extent.
¢ Eighteen hours a-day for six days out of seven, under a
Cuban sun, is horrible brutality, and soon wears out even the mag-
nificently-powerful frame of the African, whose strength is kept
constantly exerted to its very utmost efforts by the lash of the
slave-driver. Sundays are kept on different days by different
gangs; that is to say, one holiday is granted out of seven
days to each gang in turn—a precaution taken lest all
the slaves should combine together to escape, or murder their
masiers. . .. .
“What I saw of slavery on the Cuban plantations filled me
with horror of the institution, and quite did away with my previous
leaning towards it, even in the milder form. It is all very well
to say that the slave is sleek and fat, well cared for, and happier
in that condition than when free ; but those who say so, and I have
often heard it said, should observe the cowed, dejected bearing
of the slave, and the number of scarred, maimed, half-starved,
and prematurely worn-out negroes seen even in the streets of
Havana.”
Great credit is due to Captain Townshend for giving to the
64 THE LOST CONTINENT.
world what he saw of the working of slavery both Asiatic
and African in Cuba, though it is to be regretted that he
should endorse the fallacy about the negro so fashionable in
certain circles.
It might perhaps do no harm to some of our popular
writers sometimes to recur to what the English people were
some two thousand years ago, when they were in the habit
of selling their wives and children as slaves. When Cicero
described them as the ugliest and most stupid slaves
that were brought to Rome.
The allusion of Captain Townshend to Jamaica is unfor-
tunate. The case of that Island fairly looked at will not
sustain the views of those who cast indiscriminate reflections
on the negroes. The despatches and addresses of Sir Lionel
Smith and the Marquis of Sligo, successive Governors of
Jamaica after emancipation took place, ought to have settled
that question long ago.
As to the commercial state of the Island, it may fairly be
a matter of surprise that it has not been worse, considering
that a very large number of the estates were deeply mort-
gaged when emancipation took place ; that they were owned
by absentees and managed by attorneys; and, further, and
beyond all, that the masters and managers (with some noble
exceptions) were unwilling to conform their conduct to the
new order of things when freedom came.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 65
The report presented by Major Prendeville, the chief of
the constabulary force in Jamaica to Sir Peter Grant, is in
itself a testimony to the industry and good character of
the negro population in Jamaica. The report is dated
December, 1870, and is too long for insertion, but here is an
extract from it :—
“But in this country, with all its facilities for acquiring, on
easy terms, the necessities for life, it cannot be said that idleness,
and consequently vagrancy, prevails to any alarming extent. In
the towns, especially in Kingston—the great centre of commerce
and of population (34,314)—there are a goodly number of vagrants ;
but it is not so in the rural districts. The Inspector for Clarendon
(where there is a population of 42,747) reports ‘that it has not
come to his notice that any class of persons in that parish are
leading a notoriously idle and vagabond life,’ and that ¢ the people
are all employed either on the estates, or cultivating their own
grounds, or chipping logwood.” The Inspector for St. Ann’s
(population 39,547) says that ‘the people, as a rule, work very
well, and are industrious.” The Inspector for Trelawney (popu-
lation 28,812) expresses pleasure in stating that the peasantry in
his district ¢ appear to be industriously disposed.” The Inspector
for St. Mary’s (population 36,495) assures me that the labouring
classes are, on the whole, industrious, cheerful, and contented.’
The Inspector for St. Andrew’s writes ¢ that the labouring popu-
lation of the several districts in his parish are industrious and
thriving.” The late Inspector of Westmoreland (population
40,823) also bore testimony as to the peasantry of that parish
F
66 THE LOST CONTINENT.
being in comfortable circumstances, owning lands, and being
industrious.”
Turning to the Leeward Islands, we find the following
character of the negro by Sir B. C. C. Pine: —
¢ As this appeal is made chiefly in behalf of the Negro and
coloured race, it may not, sir, be out of place for me to make a
{few remarks upon that race, more especially as I have seen with
regret that their character has of late been misrepresented in
England. In giving you my humble opinion of this people, I am
also giving that of the Bishop. His Lordship is himself a West
Indian. I have been for ten years Lieutenant-Governor and
Governor in the West Indies, after having previously lived among
the race in Africa, If, therefore, our opinion of the race is
erroneous, it is for want of judgment that we err, not for want of
experience. We are both of one mind regarding the race as we
have seen them. We are not their blind advocates ; we are fully
sensible of their faults; some of these faults being seemingly
inherent in their race; but far more being the bitter results of
that accursed institution from which they have been liberated
hardly more than a quarter of a century. With all these faults
we have recognised in the race qualities entitling them to the
love of their fellow-men. They have a singular respect for
justice; deal justly with a negro and no severity will be mur-
mured at. They have an intense respect for authority if exercised
even with moderate fairness, and they are, on the whole, the
most easily governed people that I have ever met with. Their
kindness of heart and their good humour even their enemies will
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 67
admit. They are accused of being idle, but it is only wonderful
to me, considering the evil effects of slavery, and especially the
stigma that it has cast on honest labour, that they are as indus-
trious as they are.”
Whilst referring to this subject it seems impossible to
resist the temptation to quote the following passage from the
second volume of the Last Journals of Dr. Livingstone :—
“The emancipation of our West India slaves was the work
of but a small number of the people of England, the philan-
thropists and all the more advanced thinkers of the age. Nu-
merically they were a very small minority of the population, and
powerful only from the superior abilities of the leading men, and
from having the right, the true, and just, on their side. Of the
rest of the population an immense number were the indifferent,
who had no sympathies to spare for any beyond their own fire-
side circles.
“In the course of time sensation writers came up on the
surface of society, and, by way of originality, they condemned
almost every measure and person of the past.
«¢« Emancipation was a mistake.” And these fast writers drew
along with them a large body who would fain be slave-holders
themselves. We must never lose sight of the fact that though
the majority, perhaps, are on the side of freedom, large numbers
of Englishmen are not slave-holders only because the law forbids
the practice. In this proclivity we see a great part of the reason
of the frantic sympathy of the thousands with the rebels in the
great Black War in America. The would-be slave-holders
Br 2
68 THE LOST CONTINENT.
showed their leanings unmistakably, in reference to the Jamaica
outbreak, and many a would-be Colonel Hobbs, in lack of
revolvers, dipped his pen in gall, and railed against all niggers
who could not be made slaves. We wonder what they thought
of their hero, when informed that for very shame at what he had
done and written, he had rushed unbidden out of the world!”
As to the Southern States of America it seems strange that
Captain Townshend should not be aware that the produce of
those States now is often equal, sometimes greater, than it
was in the days of slavery.* To the honour of the masses in
the manufacturing districts in Lancashire, it should be
remembered that, when they were famine-stricken, owing to
the want of cotton caused by the American Civil War, all
* On craint que Pesclave ne veuille plus travailler, et cette inquiétude
est assez naturelle, puisqu'on a tout fait pour lui rendre le travail
odicux. Cependant 'exemple des colonies anglaises, francaises, hollan-
daises, prouve la parfaite vérité de ce mot du Marquis de Sligo, gouver-
neur de la Jamaique au moment de '’émancipation, en 1838 : “ toutes
les fois que les propriétaires weulent que la chose aille bien, elle va bien)
L’exemple des Etats-Unis du sud, ott déja, le travail libre arrive presque
a fournir autant de coton que le travail servile en produisait avant la
guerre, est plus significatif encore. Une meilleure distribution du
travail, lintroduction des machines, la concentration des usines, une
surveillance plus exacte, surtout un travail plus intelligent et plus
¢nergique, parce quil est stimulé par Iintérét personnel, permettent
de tirer de cent hommes libres des resultats bien supérieurs i ceux
que produisent deux cents esclaves.—L’ Espagne et I Esclavage, M. Cochin,
Membre de I Institut.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 69
attempts to induce them to support the Southern sympa-
thisers were unsuccessful. They attended meetings called
by the pro-slavery party in great numbers, and quietly
outvoted them.
One thing is perfectly clear—there is a duty for Eng-
land to perform on behalf of the remnant of slaves now
living in Cuba. Lord Palmerston repeatedly asserted the
right of Great Britain to claim the liberation of all the slaves
introduced into Cuba in violation of the treaties.
Since his time all our Foreign Secretaries, including the
present Earl of Derby, to whom thanks are due for his
enlightened interest in the cause, have held that Great
~ Britain has this right.
Lord Palmerston, in his evidence before a Committee of
the House of Commons, said, ‘I believe there was a fixed
sum paid to the Government of Cuba for each negro im-
ported; and that, besides that, bribes were given to the
whole of the officers of customs and police, in order to
induce them to wink at what was doing. The illegality
stands on more than one ground. There is a treaty which
binds the Spanish Crown to prevent the importation of
negroes; and there is a law of Ferdinand VI1I., by which
it is illegal to import slaves into any Spanish colony, and by
which, moreover, any slave imported in violation of that
law is, ipso facto, entitled to his freedom.”
70 THE LOST CONTINENT.
CHAPTER VII.
Civil War in Cuba—The Spanish Government of the Island—The
two great parties— The Revolution in Spain, 1868 —Spccial Laws
—Abolition of Slavery in Porto Rico—Course of the late British
Cabinet.
SpAIN has always ruled Cuba on principles similar to
those by which she governed, and through which she lost
all her extensive possessions in South America—not for
the good of the colonists, but for the profit of the Government
of Spain, its retainers and dependents. Perhaps no better
representation could be given of the relations between Spain
and Cuba than the substance of some ironical sentences
from Franklin, quoted by M. Laboulaye, in his able preface
to Valiente’s work on Cuba :(—
“If you desire that a separation may be always possible,
govern your colonies by laws of your own making ; interfere with
their commerce; tax them at your pleasure for your own profit ;
use their revenues which cost you nothing ; give despotic power
to the general who rules in your name, and make him free from
Colonial control. If the colonies complain, don’t listen to them ;
accuse -them of high treason and rebellion; say that all their
complaints are the inventions of demagogues; and if they can be
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 7 .
caught all will go well. Hang some of them—the blood of the
martyrs works miracles. Follow this course, and you will
infallibly arrive at the consummation of your desires—you will
be delivered from your colonies.”
THE GOVERNMENT OF CUBA, WHAT IS IT?
The powers of the Captain-General are unlimited, and at
all times equal to those of a General in a time of siege.*
There are two great parties in Cuba—the Spanish party is
mainly composed of the old slave traders, some of them
large proprietors of both estates and slaves, together with a
host of placemen from Spain of every conceivable kind, from
the Captain-General downwards.
The Cuban party is mainly composed of free Creoles,
many of whom have been large owners of slaves and estates,
and very wealthy.
* Les pouvoirs des capitaines-généraux y sont définis en termes
auxquels on ne reprochera pas de manquer de clarté. Le roi notre
scigneur, y est-il dit, afin de conserver dans la précieuse ile de Cuba sa
légitime et souveraine autorité et la tranquillité publique, vous accorde
toute la plénitude des pouvoirs que les lois militaires conferent aux gouverneurs
des places assiégées. Par conséquent, sa majesté le roi vous accorde I'autori-
sation la plus étendue ct la plus illimitée, non-seulement pour exiler de,
Iile toute personne, quels que soient son rang, sa classe ou sa condition
dont la présence pourrait vous inspirer des soucis. . . . . maisaussi pour
suspendre I'exéeution des ordres et ordonnances expédiés sur les diverses
branches de I'administration publique.”—M. Cochin.
72 THE LOST CONTINENT.
It has long been the custom of the latter class to send their
sons to be educated in Paris, London, and New York, where
they have become acquainted with their rights as men, and
have imbibed desires for the liberty in their own country
which they have witnessed abroad.
This numerous and wealthy party had winced under the
galling yoke of Spain long before the revolution broke out in
1868. Upon that occasion the Provisional Government in
Madrid declared that a general reform should take place, and
that the colonists should enjoy the same privileges as the
inhabitants of Spain. In a very short time, however, the
telegraph informed them that instead of this equality of
rights, special laws were to be adopted for the colonies. The
Cuban Liberals became alarmed. They knew what special
legislation meant, for the same thing had been promised to
them in 1837 and 1845. In unsheathing the sword they
made a great mistake; their defence is, “If ever people
were justified in appealing to arms we were.” Who,
except those who believe all war to be wrong, shall answer
the plea?
But whatever were the causes in which the war originated,
the struggle is now one between freedom and slavery. Very
soon after the commencement of hostilities, the Cuban party
set all their slaves at liberty—a course not surprising when
it is borne in mind that, so far back as the year 1840, a strong
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 73
desire existed in many of the free Cubans to see an end put
to slavery and the slave-trade.
Mr. Turnbull, the British Commissioner in Cuba at
that time, bore strong testimony on this subject, and stated
that whilst the Spanish were determined at all hazards to
continue the slave-trade, the native Cubans were strongly
against it. It was this strong desire among the Cubans
to see slavery abolished that drew from M. Olozaga, in
Paris, in 1867, the statement that “in every country that
had declared emancipation, the movement came from
without, and that abolition was forced upon the planters.
To-day the colonies and the people of Spain = desired
emancipation, but the central Government was opposed
to it.”
The war has already existed six years, during which long
period countless atrocities have been committed on both
sides, It can scarcely be doubied but that more than a
hundred thousand lives have already been sacrificed.
The conclusion of the war, and the abolition of slavery,
will doubtless take place at the same time. In Madrid this
opinion increasingly prevails. A considerable number of
eminent men, of various parties, have declared that to bring
the war to an end slavery must necessarily be abolished.
When Senor Olozaga stated in Paris that the people of
Spain were opposed to the longer existence of negro slavery,
74 THE LOST CONTINENT.
neither the press nor the Spanish people could speak; but
immediately after the Revolution in 1868, public meetings,
calling for the entire abolition of slavery, were held in
Madrid, and in all the large and many of the smaller towns
in Spain.
Knowing that a large and opulent party in Cuba, and that
the whole people of Spain, were anxious for the abolition of
slavery, it could scarcely be unreasonable to expect that the
late British Cabinet would have availed themselves of the
circumstances, and have manifested more interest in the
great movement for its realisation.
But looking at all that has taken place since the lamented
death of Earl Clarendon, little satisfaction can be taken in
this direction. The French Government has done some-
thing in aid of the cause; the American Government has
done much more, and has rendered to it the most important
service.
It might surely have been expected that the English
Government would have shown the deepest interest in the
movement,—insomuch as she has in her treaties bases for
action not possessed by any other Power. The slaves, by
virtue of the treaties, are, in a certain sense, her wards, and
the honour of the British nation is involved in their lot.
Since the revolution in Spain in 1868, several occasions
have presented, when Great Britain might have been of
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 75
essential service to humanity. One of these occasions is of
a character too striking to be overlooked. When—on the
resignation of King Amadeus—the Republicans came into
power, they declared their intention to abolish slavery both in
Porto Rico and Cuba. The policy of the Republic, as declared
by Senor Castelar, was as follows :—
“ First—The immediate abolition of slavery.
¢ Secondly—Antonomy of the Islands of Porto Rico and
Cuba, which shall have a parliamentary assembly of their
own, their own administration, their own government, and
a federal tie to unite them with Spain, as Canada is united
with England, in order that we may found the liberty of
those States, and at the same time conserve the national
integrity. I desire that the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico
shall be our sisters, and I do not desire that they shall be
transatlantic Polands.”
This declaration was received with satisfaction in America,
and Mr. Fish, the Foreign Secretary, assured the Spanish
Government that it would have ¢‘ the hearty co-operation and
support of the Government of the United States.”
Bills for the abolition of slavery were prepared; that for
Porto Rico was carried through the Cortes, and passed into
law ; but the opposition became so powerful, that the idea of
carrying the bill for the abolition of slavery in Cuba had to
be deferred.
76 THE LOST CONTINENT.
This would probably not have been the case had the
Government of Castelar been acknowledged by the British
Cabinet. Up to this time the Times stated that the young
Republic had made no mistake.
But, although it was bent on the abolition of slavery and
the extinction of a war, the British Cabinet could not see its
way to acknowledge it.
Even the measure for Porto Rico could not have been
carried but for the support of the American Government and
its indefatigable representive in Madrid, General Sickles.
The abolitionists in Madrid state that, during all this time,
the cause received no aid or sympathy from the British
Government or its Ambassador.
Seeing that the people of Spain are so unanimously in
favour of abolition, it may seem extraordinary that any
powerful opposition should be possible; but there are very
opulent men in Spain whose fortunes have been made in the
slave-trade, and others who represent the Spanish party in
Cuba. These form a Junta, which has its head-quarters in
Madrid, and is supplied with enormous resources, which are
freely used in corrupting placemen and the press. It is well
known that on one occasion it received the large amount of
£35,000 in a single remittance.
Its resources far exceed those of the West India Com-
mittee in the days of British slavery, and are used in a much
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 77
more unscrupulous manner. It is well known that Senor
Castelar and his colleagues took the reins of Government
without shedding blood, and with the unanimous vote of the
Cortes ; that they were bent upon bringing the war in Cuba
to an end by the abolition of slavery.
It has been remarked that when the late Emperor of
France extinguished a Legislative Assembly by violence,
and stepped to the throne in blood, the British minister of
the day gave the most prompt and unhesitating support—it
is said, before the colour of the blood was out of the gutters
of the Boulevards. But the late British Cabinet could not see
its way to acknowledge the Government of Castelar, though
that Government promised both the abolition of slavery and
the extinction of a war. The course pursued by England in
this affair, after a careful survey of all that her diplomatists
have advanced in defence of it, leaves the painful impression
that, to a preference for one form of government over another,
the interests of humanity have been sacrificed.
It is not encouraging to observe that the Government
of the young King, Alfonso XII., has appointed General
Valmuseda Governor of Cuba, seeing that, when he was
Captain-General of the Island a few years ago, he issued
an edict which ought not to have been forgotten. A
large number of time-expired coolies were waiting in
Havannah for a vessel to take them to China, when 4o0 -
78 THE LOST CONTINENT.
were seized by his Government and sold to planters for eight
years more. It was in reference to this act that the United
States Secretary, Hamilton Fish, thus alluded, in a despatch
to General Sickles—* If it be true (and it is true), it is
impossible for the Governments of any civilised countries to
be indifferent to so atrocious a proceeding.”
Is not the time come when the British Government can
no longer, consistently with her honour, remain indifferent
to the state of Cuba? In moral efforts for the sake of
our common humanity she would have the friendly aid,
not only of the United States, France, Germany, and
Spain, but the sympathy and approval of the whole civi-
lized world.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 79
CHAPTER 13.
The Zanzibar Treaty—Legal difficulties as to its provisions—New
Routes by Land for the Slave-trade—Condition of the African
People where not demoralised by the Slave-trader.
ONE important result of the Treaty so ably negociated by
Sir Bartle Frere with the Sultan of Zanzibar, was that
England got rid of the former treaties, which, whatever
might be the intention of the contracting parties, committed
Great Britain to a compromise with slave-trading for which
she has been justly censured by many enlightened men.
Since the ratification of the new treaty, the Sultan has
done honour to himself by his exertions faithfully to carry
out its various stipulations.
Unhappily there has arisen a very serious complica-
tion about this treaty, for which we do not hear that the
Sultan of Zanzibar is in any way to blame. There has
sprung up a conflict of opinion among the English Crown
lawyers; some of them hold that only such dhows as have
slaves on board for sale can be seized by Her Majesty’s
cruizers. The commander of a dhow laden with slaves has
nothing to do but to assert that the slaves are not for sale,
8o THE LOST CONTINENT.
and he must be allowed to pass with his cargo of slaves
without molestation.
The commanders of the cruizers are powerless in such
cases, as the onus proband: lies with them. This is so grave
a point that no delay ought to take place in effectually
clearing up the matter. Our consular agents and officers,
and all who have the serious responsibility of carrying the
provisions of the treaty into execution, ought not to be left
in any difficulty as to the law of the case.
But the treaty does not reach the land-traffic, which has
now been substituted for the sea route. In illustration of
this, it is found that regular land routes have been organised
along which thousands of slaves are sent northward to be
shipped at Pemba or Lamoo, for the Eivptian, Turkish,
and Persian markets.
According to Vice-Consul Elton, 4,096 slaves passed
between Dar-es-Salam and Kilwa Kivinga in the course of
about one month.
Again Captain Elton writes, in January, 1874 :—
“Whilst lying ill under a shed at Kikunia, on the 30th, a
caravan of 400 slaves passed through the village; and on the
next day a far larger one (we counted 1,000 and then stopped)
of some 1,100 filed past within sight of my bed, in long chain
gangs, heavily laden with provisions for the road. The leader of
the latter, one Mamji Hadji, conceived it his duty to call on me,
5
2
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 81
accompanied by about eight of his men armed with muskets. He
was very communicative, said ¢ he had been away two years; did
not know exactly how many slaves he had, more than 1,000
certainly; was obliged to march slowly, as some had been a
year and a-half in the gangs, had taken seven days from Kilwa ;
thought it a good thing the sea route was closed, as he saved
duty, and the land journey was cheaper.”
The continuance of the slave-trade is also alluded to by
Colonel Cameron, in a letter from another district. Kawele
Ujiji, May 1874, he says: —
“ Now for a little slaving news. It is still in force, as you
will see by my journal; but, perhaps, I may here give you a little
intelligence that may be novel and startling. Some of the white
merchants, according to my Arab informant, buy slaves. (He
did not see any English, but he heard of English and English
men-of-war). There are Spanish and Portuguese houses on the
Congo, and they no doubt do a little slaving business still. This
ought to be looked to.”
Among the many impediments to the abolition of the
slave-trade, and to united efforts on behalf of Africa, must be
ranked the mistaken impression of many people, that the
African race is so naturally bad that it cannot be improved
and elevated. This error must mainly be attributed to the
demoralizing effects of the slave-trade, which has formed an
evil ring around that great continent from which has spread
G
82 THE LOST CONTINENT.
inwards all the vices of humanity in its most debased
condition.
In the few parts of Africa where the slave-trade has not
yet reached, tribes are to be found living in order and happi-
ness—cultivating their lands, and peacefully enjoying every-
thing their physical wants require, of which abundant
evidence has been brought to light, from the days of Mungo
Park to the present time. To this Dr. Livingstone occa-
sionally bears ample testimony.
THE NEGRO WHERE THE SLAVE-TRADE HAS NEVER BEEN.
«Fortunately I was in a country now, after leaving the shores
of the Nassau, where the feet of the slave-trader had not trod.
It was a new and virgin land; and of course, as I have always
found it, in such cases the natives were really good and hospi-
table, and for very small portions of cloth my baggage was
conveyed from village to village by them.
“In many other ways the traveller, in his extremity, was
kindly treated by the undefiled and unspoilt natives.
“When Syde and Dugumbé come, I hope to get men and a
canoe to finish my work among those who have not been abused
by Ujijians, and still retain their natural kindness of disposition;
none of the people are ferocious without cause. . . . . The
education of the world is a terrible one, and it has come down
with relentless rigour on Africa from the most remote times!
What the African will become after this awfully hard lesson is
learned, is among the future developments of Providence.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 83
When He, who is higher than the highest, accomplishes His
purposes, this will be a wonderful country, and again something
like what it was of old, when Terah and Tirhaka flourished and
were great.
““Nsama’s people are particularly handsome. Many of the
men have as beautiful heads as one could find in an assembly of
Europeans. All have very fine forms, with small hands and
feet. None of the West Coast ugliness, from which most of our
ideas of the negroes are derived, is here to be seen. No prog-
nathous jaws nor lark heels offended the sight. My observation
deepened the impression, first obtained from the remarks of
Winwood Reade, that the typical negro is seen in the ancient
Egyptian, and not in the ungainly forms which grow up in the
unhealthy swamps of the West Coast. Indeed, it is probable
that this upland forest region is the true home of the negro. The
women excited the admiration of the Arabs. They have fine,
small, well-formed features.”
“The whole of my experience in Central Africa says that the
negroes not yet spoilt by contact with the slave-trade are distin-
guished for friendliness and good sense. In one point they are
remarkable—they are honest.”
In one of his letters Dr. Livingstone says :—
“I was so frequently asked, when in England, ¢ Would these
Africans work for one?’ + Yes, if you could pay them. This
answer produced such a palpable lengthening of visage, that I
suspected my questioner had been speculating on getting them
to work for nothing; in fact, to be slave owners.”
Colonel Cameron, in a published letter, has also given his
G 2
84 THE LCST CONTINENT.
experience of the African natives who have not been made
slaves, in the following words :—
___—1 have lost,” says he, *“all idea of colour being a sign of
inferiority. Many of the people I have seen and talked to are very
intelligent, and fully recognise the value of having more trade, and
the tales of the lack of industry and want of purpose, are only true
of slaves, and the degraded predatory tribes. To see the
enormous fields which are cultivated entirely with the hoe, and to
say that these people lack purpose, is impossible. Those who
say that all the people here are drunkards, utter a scandal. The
means of getting drunk here are plenty enough; but the only
people I see drunk here are my own pagazi and askari, and the
slaves and servants of the Arabs, with very few exceptions. Not
near so many people are drunkards here as in England, in pro-
portion to the numbers. Of course, living as they do without
any religion or hopes of a future life, with few wants and no
resources, they are low in the scale of civilization, but they are
not rude or brawling to strangers. I have never had the slightest
incivility offered to me. I take my stand always as being to the
full as big a man as any chief I meet, but am always careful to
be most punctiliously civil to them.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 85
CHAPTER X.
Dr. Livingstone’s last Journals—Christian regard for Human Life
—Slave-trade as seen in his latter years.
IT is a touching thing to see the last journals of a man
who has held a large place in the minds of his fellow-coun-
trymen, and in the estimation of the world, through a long
course of years—especially is it so with respect to one who
has passed from the world under such peculiar circum-
stances.
Dr. Livingstone has laid open to the light some of the
darkest portions of the world; and before this light the
habitations of cruelty will not be allowed much longer to
remain. | He has not been permitted to see the fruit of his
labours; but his labours will remain.
His track in Africa is not traced in blood, but in a light
that will never be obliterated. In his practice he held
human life to be sacred. Carrying with him wherever he
went the influence of true goodness, he gained over the
savage, made even more savage by the slave-trade.
The white man sho follows him is safe; though the life of the
white man who follows the Queensland labour trafficker is
86 THE LOST CONTINENT.
in constant jeopardy. Dr. Livingstone never pointed a weapon
against his fellow-man, and even records a sense of humilia-
tion after using a stick to correct a servant. His sufferings,
self-sacrifice, and life-long devotion to the cause of the
oppressed, has left a legacy to the world—the duty to bring
slavery and the slave-trade to an end in the shortest prac-
ticable time.
It was no light task to undertake the editorship of the
last journals of such a man, written as they were under such
peculiar circumstances. It is well that the work was under-
taken by his friend and colleague, the “Rev.” Horace Waller,
to whom the thanks of the public are due for the form in which
the volumes have been presented. The short and judicious
notes show how careful the editor has been to keep himself
in the background, in order the more effectually to present
Dr. Livingstone to the public.
The following extracts, taken promiscuously, will show a
little of what Dr. Livingstone met with in his latter years in
reference to
THE SLAVE-TRADE.
“ When endeavouring to give some account of the slave-trade
of East Africa, it was necessary to keep far within the truth, in
order not to be thought guilty of exaggeration; but, in sober
seriousness, the subject does not admit of exaggeration. To
overdraw its evils is a simple impossibility. The sights I have
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 8&7
seem, though common incidents of the traffic, are so nauseous
that I always try to drive them from memory. In the case of
most disagreeable recollections I can succeed, in time, in con-
signing them to oblivion; but the slaving scenes ‘come back
unbidden, and make me start up at dead of night horrified by
their vividness.”
“No words can convey an adequate idea of the scene o
wide-spread desolation which the once pleasant Shire Valley
now presented. Instead of smiling villages and crowds of
people coming with things for sale, scarcely a scul was to be
seen. . . . . Large masses of the people had fled down to
the Shire, only anxious to get the river between them and their
enemies. Most of the food had been left behind, and famine
and starvation had cut off so many that the remainder were too
few to bury the dead. The corpses we saw floating down the
river were only a remnant of those that had perished, whom
their friends, from weakness, could not bury, nor over-gorged
crocodiles devour. ..: tv. vie
“We were informed by Mr. Waller of the dreadful blight
which had befallen the once smiling Shire Valley. His words,
though strong, failed to impress us with the reality. In fact,
they were received, as some may accept our own, as tinged
with exaggeration; but when our eyes beheld the last mere
driblets of this cup of woe, we for the first time felt that the
enormous wrongs inflicted on our fellow-men by slaving are
beyond exaggeration. . . . . The sight of this desert, but
eighteen months ago a well-peopled valley, now literally strewn
with human bones, forced the conviction upon us, that the
destruction of human life in the middle passage, however great,
88 THE LOST CONTINENT.
constitutes but a small portion of the waste, and made us feel
that unless the slave-trade—that monster iniquity, which has so
long brooded over Africa—is put down, lawful commerce cannot
be established.
“We passed a woman tied by the neck to a tree and dead.
The people of the country explained that she had been unable
to keep up with the other slaves in a gang, and her master had
determined that she should not become the property of anyone
else if she recovered after resting for a time. I may mention
here that we saw others tied up in a similar manner, and one
lying in the path shot or stabbed, for she was in a pool of blood.
The explanation we got invariably was that the Arab who
owned these victims was enraged at losing his money by the
slaves becoming unable to march, and vented his spleen by
murdering them.
“ To-day we came upon a man dead from starvation, as he
was very thin. One of our men wandered and found a number
of slaves with slave-sticks on, abandoned by their master from
want of food; they were too weak to be able to speak or say
where they had come from—some were quite young. . .
¢] saw another person bound to a tree and dead—a sad sight
to see, whoever was the perpetrator. So many slave-sticks lie
along our path, that I suspect the people hereabout make a
practice of liberating what slaves they can find abandoned on
the march to sell them again.”
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 89
CHAPTER XI.
Remarks on Christian Missions—Dr. Livingstone—Colonel Cameron—
New ‘and extensive steam communication with Zanzibar, ports
in Eastern Africa—Projected Ship Canal, North Western Africa.
NoTHING can be more necessary to Africa than Christian
Missions. Whether those which have been established
during the past thirty years have been conducted on the
soundest principles it is not necessary here to inquire. The
great purpose of Christianity is not only to prepare man for a
future state but to elevate and bless him in the present life.
Those missions which have not been paralysed or laid
waste by slavery have effected in particular localities a very
large amount of good. But many noble efforts in various
parts of Africa, which promised well for a time, have been
destroyed by the slave-trade. They have not failed for want
of support from England and the various other countries
from which they have emanated, neither have they failed from
defects of character in the missionaries, the energy, devoted-
ness, and self-sacrifice of whom is beyond all praise. Butitis
certain that where these missions have wastedaway, languished
and died, it has been in consequence of the slave-trade.
QO THE LOST CONTINENT.
There is at the present moment a great amount of Christian
zeal turned in the direction of Africa. Large amounts of
money have been freely offered for the establishment of new
Missions. All this is very encouraging, but it is impossible
not to feel some apprehension that, unless slavery is abolished
in the East, the slave-trade may now, as formerly, lay waste
the projected missions, and disappoint the expectations of
their promoters. The following remarks on the subject of
missions, by Dr. Livingstone and Colonel Cameron, are worthy
of note.
DR. LIVINGSTONE ON MISSIONS IN THE INTERIOR.
“I would say to missionaries, ¢ Come on, brethren, to the
real heathen. You have no idea how brave you are till you
’
try.’ Leaving the coast tribes, and devoting yourselves
heartily to the savages, as they are called, you will find, with
some drawbacks and wickedness, a very great deal to admire
and love. Many statements made about them require confir-
mation. You will never see women selling their infants, the
Arabs never did, nor have I. An assertion of the kind was
made by mistake.”
‘“ Goodness or unselfishness impresses their minds more
than any kind of skill or power. They say, ‘You have dif-
ferent hearts from ours; all black men’s hearts are bad, but
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 91
yours are good.” The prayer to Jesus for a new heart and
right spirit at once commends itself as appropriate.”
‘“ But no one expects any benevolent efforts from those who
cavil and carp at efforts made by Governments and peoples to
heal the enormous open sore of the world. Some profess
that they would rather give ‘their mite’ for the degraded of
our own countrymen than to ‘niggers!’ Verily it is ‘a
mite,” and they most often forget, and make a gift of it to
themselves. It is almost an axiom that those who do most
for the heathen abroad are most liberal for the heathen at
home. It is to this class we turn with hope.”
CoLoNEL CAMERON ON MISSIONS.
“ If missions are to be established they should be in-
dustrial ones; all the clergy should be thorough gentlemen,
but there should be subordinates who could instruct the
natives—smiths, carpenters, agriculturists, &c. ‘The utmost
care and discrimination should be exercised in selecting these.
It is no use only teaching the natives to read and write ; they
don’t teach or raise others, and are in a measure unfitted for
a return to their own homes. If they knew trades they
would teach them to others, and having the means of obtain-
ing a livelihood and living in superior comfort to their neigh-
bours, would tend to raise the latter, and become each in his
92 THE LOST CONTINENT.
own home a centre of dawning Christianity and civilisation.
This is where our Zanzibar mission errs : the boys are taught
to read and write and made gentlemen of; when they leave
the mission, at the age of twenty or thereabouts, they have
no means of obtaining a livelihood, and fall into the hands
of the Arabs, and soon forget their Christianity and become
nominally Mohammedans, virtually nothing. ‘The French
mission at Bagamoyo is a good commencement in this way,
but might be improved upon. I do not mean that the boys
should not be taught to read and write; but do this, and not
leave the other undone.”
Although the importance of Christian Missions for Africa
cannot be over-rated, there are other agencies at work which,
if slavery be abolished, must prove of immense benefit both
to Africa and Europe.
Through the enterprise and liberality of the British Steam
Navigation Company and their public-spirited Chairman, Mr.
Mackinnon, aided by a very moderate subsidy from the
Governments of England, France and Portugal, frequent
steam communication is now established with Zanzibar, the
various ports and places on the East Coast of Africa, Mada-
gascar, and the several other islands in those seas. This
wise and beneficial scheme has been mainly brought about
by the indefatigable exertions of James Long, Esq.
This gentleman has also rendered essential service by
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 93
bringing the whole subject of our commercial arrangements
with Eastern Africa before nearly all the Chambers of Com-
merce in the large towns in England.
We must not, however, overlook the fact that the slave-
trade is so enormously profitable that it destroys lawful com-
merce, and that increased facilities for communication may
be turned to account by the slave-traders.
In past times it has on several occasions happened that
the best meant schemes have done more for the encourage-
ment of the slave-trade than they have done for lawful com-
merce. We must not shut our eyes to the extreme probability
that the same result will attend these new efforts if slavery
be not abolished. Even the steamers which ply in the
Mediterranean and the Red Sea frequently carry slaves, and
in other ways are made to foster the slave-trade.
Steam and commerce, however, are invaluable as auxi-
liaries, but they are not the remedy for the slave-trade, and,
alone they never will abolish it.
The African Institution tried to effect the great object by
the promotion of commerce forty years ago;—the Great
Civilisation Society of 1840, supported by the most eminent
men in the country, with a princely revenue and the aid of
steam, altogether failed in its spirited and well-meant efforts.
Since that time several other considerable efforts have been
made which have only been attended with similar results.
04 THE LOST CONTINENT.
An interesting scheme has recently been broached, which,
if found practicable and carried out, must prove of immense
benefit to the central portions of Northern Africa. The great
desert of Sahara is one vast depression, upwards of 600 miles
in length, and from the statements of Dr. Barth, and other
_ eminent travellers, it is supposed to be about 140 feet below
the level of the Atlantic.
To submerge this, and open water communication with the
fertile lands, and abundant population of the interior, it is
said to be only necessary to cut through a ali tract of
land. Some information on this project will be found in the
Appendix (D).
Io Rd a pais ac Lc
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 95
CHAPTER XII.
Introduction of British Indian Coolies into Surinam. The Dutch in
Java—Dutch war of aggression in Acheen.
IT had in latter times been the settled practice of the
English Government not to allow any further extension of
the system of Coolie immigration from British India into
the possessions of Foreign Powers, especially so with regard
to places where Aly has existed.
But this excellent policy has been departed from by the late
Government, which has licensed the traffic to Surinam. The
reasons for this change have not been made public, but it is
supposed to have been done at the instance of those British
slave-owners in Dutch Guiana who, in 1852, memorialised
the Netherlands Government against the project of abolishing
slavery. It was proposed by the Dutch Government, about
that time, to make all children born after the passing of the
Act free. But the memorialists, among whom were an
English Baronet and two ladies, claimed compensation, not
merely for slaves then living, but also for the yet unborn
children of slave-mothers. On this occasion the Earl of
96 THE LOST CONTINENT.
Malmesbury addressed the following words to the British
Ambassador at the Hague :—
“You will say, first, that Her Majesty’s Government have
no sympathy with British subjects who own slaves in foreign
countries; and, secondly, that they think the emancipation of
slaves is of much more importance to the welfare of the
human race than the interests of any British subjects who
may consider they are entitled to compensation for losses
sustained in consequence of the emancipation of slaves in
foreign countries.”*
A Consul has been appointed who is supposed to protect
these British Indian Coolies, but anything approaching to
effectual protection in Surinam, where the estates are widely
separated, both on the mainland and adjacent islands, is a
simple impossibility.
THE DurcH IN Java.
This departure of the late Cabinet from a settled National
Policy is the more extraordinary in view of the fact that the
oppressive rule of the Dutch over the labouring class in her
dependencies had been recently exposed in several public
journals. Their grinding oppressions in Java had been made
the subject of very severe but just comment.
* By the 6 & 7 Victoria, slave-holding by British subjects in foreign
countries is made a penal offence.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 97
Under a species of serfdom called ‘ heerendienst” the
natives of Java are made to bear the expense of a standing
army of about 40,000 men, and all Colonial expenses, and to
yield to Holland a clear profit of more than two millions
sterling annually.
It is well known that, in addition to the greater part of
Sumatra, the Moluccas, and other islands, and a vast slice of
Borneo, Holland virtually possesses the whole of the large
island of Java, which, though a Christian Government, she
has rendered a scandal to the civilised world.
The traveller in Holland admires the beautiful villas, bright
gardens, and surrounding avenues of the ¢ Java quarter” at
The Hague, but witnesses in that fair sight nothing of the
misery and debasement in far-off lands which have been
made mainly to contribute to that splendour. For into the
Dutch coffers the rich tribute of £3,000,000 flows annually
from Java, being so much clear profit over and above all
the cost of maintaining the Colonial Government and arma-
ments.
Further confirmation of the statements made in the Morn-
ing Post and other papers is abundantly afforded in a recent
work which devotes several chapters to Java, viz.:—“A
Voyage Round the World,” by the Marquis de Beauvoir
(London: Murray, 1870). After describing his tour through
the island, and the courtesy with which he was treated by the
H
98 THE LOST CONTINENT.
authorities, he remarks—‘ It went to my heart never to see
a man stand up before me, but thousands of creatures crouch-
ing down in a row.” :
‘“ As to the religious condition of this magnificent island
of 15,000,000 people, he says there is ‘scarcely a temple of
any kind to show that there is a thought of God in this
country which He has so richly endowed.” And after describ-
ing the wonderful ruins of the ancient temples at Mendoet,
Boro-Bondor, and Tjandji-Seou, the Marquis contrasts with
the past the spiritlessness of the present age in Java, when
even ‘art is completely dead.’ He also affirms that the
island was more populous 1,000 years ago than now. The
same writer enters at great detail into the particulars of
the Dutch exactions in Java, quoting from official figures and
returns. These show that in the 33 years, from 1833 to 1866,
‘the net profit of Java to Holland was £72,000,000, or more than
£2,000,000 per annum throughout. This clear revenue is
additional to the large amount required for meeting the colo-
nial expenditure, and for the support of a Dutch army of
30,000 men (of whom 11,000 are Europeans). Nor does it
include the ‘commissions’ on all the Government crops
enjoyed by the officials generally, both native and Dutch.
The Marquis mentions also that the natives are compelled
to sell two-thirds of their sugar crops to the Dutch Govern-
ment at ros. 3d. per picul (132lb.), which quantity sells in
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 99
Holland at six times the amount (61s. the picul). It is but
fair to explain that this crop is aided by a loan from Govern-
ment. But the coffee crop must also be sold to the Dutch at
one-third its marketable value.”
Since the foregoing was written the Dutch Government
has passed a law providing that payments in money will in
future be received instead of payments in sugar. This will
be an advantage to the merchant, but, so far as is known, no
change has been made in the condition of the native popula-
tion. They are still ruled over by foreign masters for the
exclusive gain of a foreign Government, the people of which
make the high profession of the Protestant reformed religion.
Holland has produced some excellent men, noted for their
philanthropy—a deep responsibility rests upon them as
members of the Community. Can they be induced to look
at the abject condition of their fellow-subjects in Java, and
take measures to roll away the reproach at present brought
upon the Christian name?
Tae Durce WAR IN ACHEEN.
But still more to be deplored was the agreement made by
the British Government with the Dutch, in 1842, inasmuch
as it led to two wars, one of which is still going on.
When the Sultan of Acheen was first attacked by the Dutch,
H 2
I00 THE 1.0ST CONTINENT.
he appealed to his old friends, the English, and claimed pro-
tection under his Treaty with England of 1819. :
The Treaty was not disputed by the British Government,
but the Sultan was told in reply that he could not claim the
protection that England was bound to afford to him, because
England had subsequently * entered into a treaty with the
Netherlands entirely inconsistent with it;” and, further,
because England had not uninterruptedly observed the treaty.
The war which has now been carried on by the Dutch
Government against the Achinese in the north-western part
of Sumatra is a war of aggression, into which it might
almost be said the British Government had invited the
Dutch to enter, for one of the clauses of the Convention
between the English and Dutch which led to these wars runs
thus :—*“ Her Britannic Majesty desists from all objections against
the extension of the Netherland dominions in any part of the Island
of Sumatra, and consequently from the reserve in that respect
contained inthe Notes exchanged bythe Netherland and British
Plenipotentiaries at the conclusion of the Treaty of 1824.”
By the two wars—the consequence of a Convention
negotiated in secret—the welfare of thousands and the
honour of England have been compromised. It was to
secret diplomacy that England was formerly committed to
a compromise with slave-trading, by her old treaties with
the Sultan of Zanzibar and the Imaum of Muscat.
> 390 3
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. I0I
So long as the English people are satisfied to allow their
Ministers to make treaties of this kind in secret, they will
be liable to all the discredit and injury such transactions
involve.
The Achinese have claims on Great Britain which have
not been honourably met; but, apart from this, and alto-
gether apart from the merits of the case, it would be a
kind and considerate act for the present Cabinet, in the
interest of humanity, to use its influence with the Dutch
Government in favour of the people of Acheen, who have
now been engaged in defending their homes and their
country for nearly two years against the cruel and barbarous
aggressions of the Government of the Netherlands.
102 THE 1.OST CONTINENT.
CHAPTER XIil,
Queensland—The Labour Traffic—Condition of the Islanders on the
Estates. :
THE early history of Queensland, so far as the natives
are concerned, like the history of the other Australian
Colonies, is written in blood.
Experience has, in several instances, shown that the
natives make good shepherds and herdsmen; but the policy
of those who have possessed themselves of extensive tracts
of land has been to exterminate the original and rightful
owners, and to import foreign labour. Hence a new species
of slave-trade has sprung up. ;
It was under the auspices of Sir G. Bowen that the
introduction of South Sea Islanders, under labour contracts,
into Queensland first took place. The illegality of the
course was fully proved at the time, and the results brought
deep discredit on the English name.
To apply a remedy to the evils thus introduced, the
Brisbane Parliament passed a Bill in 1868; but this Act,
as was anticipated by many able men, did not put an end
to the evils—kidnapping and murder continue to be as rife
as before.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. I03
Public attention has been so much startled and absorbed
with the atrocities committed in recruiting the Polynesian
natives, that little attention has been paid to the question
as to what is their actual state on the plantations in
Queensland.
Their condition has indeed been asserted to be everywhere
good; in proof of which, reference is made to the fact that
some of the islanders who had returned to their homes have
gone a second time to Queensland.
This at first sight looks well; but, to test its value as an
indication of their gemeral condition, numbers ought to be
given. What is the proportion of those who go a second
time compared with those who never do so?
In a country where the estates are widely separated, and
seldom visited by strangers, it is difficult to obtain inde-
pendent and trustworthy information.
A late Governor of Queensland, a few years ago, made
a sort of royal progress among some of the estates, and
reported that he found everything right and the islanders
happy. Of course he did! Could any other result have
been anticipated ?
Another traveller,* paying an unexpected visit about the
“+
“Colonial Adventures and Experiences.” By a University Man.
London : Bell & Daldy. 1871.
104 THE 10ST CONTINENT,
or
same time, gave the following account of what he
saw :—
“The coolies being thus captured or procured, let us see
how they are treated, or rather let me relate what I know
of their treatment in two places where I have seen the
system at work. . . . Their diet, as far as it came under
my observation and notice, consisted chiefly of pumpkins,
damaged corn, and such corn cobs as they could pick up
or secrete, a pint-pot full of rice twice a-week (rice being
a food untasted by them in their own country), and, when
a bullock was killed, they got the head, entrails, and other
refuse. . . . I have compared them to slaves; they are
worse off in many respects than if they were slaves. . . .
After I had been on the plantation about a month, a cargo of
coolies was brought into the port, and most of the (white)
hands on the plantation received notice to leave in a week,
some few being retained as overseers. . . . When the coolies
were brought up to the plantation, I noticed that many
of them had sores and deep cuts on their ankles; and I
found, on inquiry, that some of them had been mutinous
on the passage, and had been put in irons. Mutiny is a -
rather curious word to use in the case of a man who resists
oppression, but it belongs to the new vocabulary. They
were permitted to spend the first two days in building a
hut for themselves. . . . There were in all about seventy.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 105
As soon as their household arrangements were completed,
they were told off in gangs and set to work under white
overseers, who were made responsible for getting a certain
amount of work daily out of them. .. . Surely, if slavery
was suppressed in the interests of the negro, this infamous
traffic ought also to be suppressed in the interests of these
islanders, who are people nearer akin to us by race than the
negro.”
Near the towns where public influence is felt, the treat-
ment of the islanders may be good; but the case is very
different where their location is too remote to be either
under the cognisance of the civil power or the influence of
public opinion. Being under the bondage of contract, they
are not free men, and therefore wholly unable to defend
themselves against injustice and oppression.
A temporary resident, in a district where many are em-
ployed, writing about a year ago, remarked :—
““ Any person arriving on these plantations for the first
time would be immediately shocked at the appearance of
these Kanakas. I say that the Australian aborigines, in
' their primitive state, are less disgusting than these Kanakas.
Did the Marquis of Normanby, when he visited two of these
plantations, see the islanders as they usually go about the
plantations, or were they compelled to put on their clothing
on that momentous occasion? But from what I learned I
106 THE LOST CONTINENT.
do not think that His Excellency took the best means, if any
at all, of becoming acquainted with the usual routine on these
plantations to enable him to form an opinion, much less to
eulogise the system. I beg leave to say that riding through the
district, and partaking of fi Roupltgliiies of -those favourable
to the traffic, aid who took good care to make everything look
pleasant, would hardly afford him an opportunity to judge. 1
doubt not that, were it known that any of the men could
or_were likely to tell him how they came to the plan-
tations, and were being treated, ample means soled be
taken to prevent their doing so. I therefore assert that
His Excellency could know nothing of the system, except
from what he was told by those interested in this nefarious
traffic.
“I had the means of observing the manner these islanders
are worked, and the treatment they receive on the plan-
tations, and I have no hesitation in expressing my opinion
that this traffic savours far too much of slavery, and
should no longer be permitted to go on. I will just
mention a few facts, which cannot be denied, for public
information.
“ On these plantations the islanders are turned into the
- cane-fields, or to such other place where they may be
required, at seven o'clock in the morning, and kept at work
until six p.m., one hour being allowed, from twelve to one,
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 107
for dinner. Each gang has an overseer, to see that they
are not skulking work. Those engaged in the boiling-house
are frequently at work until twelve o'clock at night, but
generally up to ten o'clock p.m. I had a conversation with
a sugar-boiler one day, about the admirable way in which
these people went about their labour, and he informed me
that, if they did not do so, he would soon make them. I
asked him, ‘ How would you?’ ‘Why,’ he replied, ‘by
giving them a few good cracks with a sugar-cane.” I believe
this is by no means an unusual circumstance. These people
are made, or rather compelled, to work when they may by
sickness be unable to do so. The sole or the whole idea
of the planters seems to be, to obtain as much labour as
can possibly be got from these people during the term of
engagement. Even on Sundays these men are compelled
to work, by loading the punts with sugar and conveying
the same to the place of shipping.
“They are supposed to be impervious to sickness. If
they complain of illness they are not believed, but it is
thought to be idleness and an indisposition to labour. I
shall mention a circumstance which was told me by one of
themselves, who could speak English sufficiently well to be
understood. It is this :—A man from the Island of Tanna,
whilst working on one of these plantations, became ‘very
bad,” and was confined to his bed. The manager, not
108 THE LOST CONTINENT.
seeing him about as usual, inquired ; being informed of the
poor wretch being ill, he went into the hut where he was
lying, and, with a good-sized sugar-cane, actually thrashed
the unfortunate man from the bed to the mill. Yet none of
the many Kanakas who were present, and saw the ill-treat-
ment their countryman received, made the slightest show
of resentment. I saw one of these Polynesians with a bad
wound on his thigh, which, upon inquiry, I found had been
inflicted by a severe kick from the manager, with his heavy
nailed boot, for some alleged skulking.
“ Some may ask, Why have no complaints been made by
these Kanakas as to their ill-treatment if they have any
cause of complaint? To this I reply, that they have no
means afforded them to complain. Is not almost every one
of their masters a magistrate ? Is not the police magistrate
of the district the frequent and welcome guest of their
master ? If one of these men was to endeavour to find his
way to the nearest Police Bench to complain, he would be
immediately pursued, and brought up under the Masters’
and Servants’ Act. How are the majority of these people
to obtain redress for any injury they may receive when they
cannot make themselves understood, and no interpreters
are provided by the Government which brings them to the
colony?
“The reason the public do not hear of the many abuses
Joya Nh La RE
~ SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 109
meta
which take place on the plantations of the Polynesian
labourers is easily answered by the fact of there being no
local and independent press to make these abuses known.
There is only one newspaper, about eighty or one hundred
miles from the plantations, but it dares not assume an
independent position towards this traffic.”
From such a state of things free labour and fair wages
would have preserved the fine Colony of Queensland.
II10 THE LOST CONTINENT.
CHAPTER X71V.
Coolies imported into the British West Indies during a period of T'wenty-
nine years—The number returned to their own country—Their
savings—Number now in the Colonies—The death-rate.
Tre returns laid before the House of Commons of the immigrants
and liberated Africans admitted into the West India Colonies between
1843 and 1872 show a total taken into British Guiana, Trinidad,
Jamaica, St. Vincent, and Grenada, amounting to 161,539. Of this
number 46,038 are dead : a fearful rate of mortality in countries where
the native population increases rapidly,
The number who have returned to their own country is stated as
16,938; the average annual savings of each has been £1 2s. 6d. For
this pitiful amount these people have worked hard for some of the best
years of their lives. No wonder then that, in order to procure a
supply of labour, the contract, the recruiter, or the kidnapper, are still
a necessity.
This forced labour system is costly in money and wasteful of life.
It is an attempt to obtain labour that is cheap. But low-priced labour
is not necessarily cheap; especially is this true if all the costs of the
recruiting system are taken into account.
The adoption of free labour fairly paid for would probably be
quickly followed by a free and abundant immigration into the islands.
The Friend of India, after a careful review of the whole working of
the affair, has fitly termed it “the twin-sister of the slave-trade.” The
arguments adduced for both are in many respects identical. It was
maintained that, though the system might be one of forced labour for
a time, the coolie was to be benefited and enriched.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. ITY
The returns, extending over a period of twenty years, show how far
this has been realised, But it was also confidently anticipated that our
colonies would be peopled by it. The returns, however, show that,
whilst the West India Islands have not been colonised, the countries
from which the coolies have been drawn are being depopulated. In
fact, the rate of mortality has been such as would depopulate the world
at no very distant day.
RETURNS OF IMMIGRANTS LAID BEFORE
PARLIAMENT.
“The Colonial Office, on the motion of Mr. Crum-Ewing, has laid
upon the table of the House of Commons a return of the number of
immigrants and liberated Africans admitted into British West Indian
Colonies from 1843 to 1872 inclusive, and also the number who have
returned to their own country, with the amount of their savings.
It appears that twelve colonies have imported immigrants. The
chief sources of supply have been from India, whence have come
146,663 persons ; Madeira, 34,364; Sierra Leone, 21,118; China,
16,222. Of the 31,336 individuals who have migrated from one
colony to another, British Guiana alone has received 23,649. The
entire number of hands imported from the sixteen specified localities is
263,833, giving an average of 9,097 per annum.
Whatever may be the object in obtaining these returns, they suggest
matters for grave consideration, and show that immigration has not
been so remunerative to the labourers as they were led to expect, and
that it has so far failed in colonising the dependencies of the British
Crown.
When in India the coolies were promised, in addition to money
wages, house and land rent free; gratuitous medical and hospital
attendance 3 £10 bounty on their return to their country, and other
special advantages. Recruiters failed not to give the most glowing
accounts of the places, where they were assured of happy days, light
work, and large monetary results. That a few of the 146,663 coolies
112 THE 10ST CONTINENT,
from India, favoured by exceptional circumstances, have done well, is
cheerfully acknowledged ; but looking at the results, not from a planter’s
point of view, who regards alone his crops and profits, but from the
labourer’s point of view, who looks at the wages saved and benefits
obtained after a ten years’ contract and industrial residence, we cannot
pronounce them satisfactory.
Some planters in Jamaica have lately requested the Governor, Sir
John Peter Grant, to induce labourers from Malta to migrate to
Jamaica. These people, however, are indisposed to go unless they can
save at least threepence a day, or about £3 18s. per year—a sum far
beyond what the coolies from India, in that colony, have saved.
The immigration agents have, no doubt, given as favourable a report
of amounts-earned as circumstances permitted. They have not only
credited those who have returned to their country with cash, but also
with the value of jewellery possessed. It should, however, be borne in
mind that in very many instances a portion of the cash and jewellery
belonged to deceased friends and relatives, the number of whom is very
large. In not a few cases, also, the sums taken include moneys sent by
coolies yet under contract to their friends and relatives in India, Hence
considerable deductions have to be made from the amounts given as
savings and property of those who return.
But, taking none of these circumstances into account, what is the
amount—having had house, land, medical attendance free, and bounty
money—of the savings of those who have returned to India? In
Trinidad the average is £2 3s. per annum; in British Guiana, £1 19s;
Grenada, £1 6s.; St. Vincent, £1; Jamaica, 15s.; St. Lucia, 14s. 6d.
When we know that many of these people have worked hard and
industriously, that some of them have invested their little savings in,
say, a cow or other animal, to add to their resources, and have been
successful in this auxiliary resource, we can understand that on their
return to India, their report will not be encouraging, and that it is
difficult to get hands to go in search of fortunes in the West India
Colonies.
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. I13
But there is another view of the present system. From the return
we see that, while comparatively few return to their own country,
colonisation is not secured. Human life is wasted, and, unless kept up by
constant supply from abroad, the imported coolies will die out, and the
colony left as before. Take the returns of the following islands :—
Number
Number returned to Number Number
of coolies their own yet in unaccounted
imported. country. the colony. for.
British Guiana... 93,230 8,982 55,248 28,9635
"Brinidad ...0 ... 47,342 4,542 28,425 11,910
Jotonien ... .... 16,471 3,194 9,000 4,267
Se. Vincent ... 1,026 34 1,485 407
Grenada... ,.. | 2:570 186 1,895 489
161,539 16,938 96,053 46,038
While, during the twenty-nine years covered by these returns, only one
in nine has returned to his country, nearly one in four is unaccounted
for, or, in other words, is dead. The birth- should, under a healthy
state of things, have exceeded the death-rate, as is the case among the
creole population. Here, however, instead of there being, during the
twenty-nine years, a large, or any, increase in the Indian population,
there is actually a decrease of nearly twenty-five per cent. of the
imported coolies.”—.nti-Slavery Reporter.
The plea frequently put forth that the Coolies are benefited
by the system derives no support from these official returns—
a careful examination of them plainly shows that, in the face
of such a death-rate, the system cannot be maintained either
on economical or moral grounds.
IT THE LOST CONTINENT.
CHAPTER XV.
CONCLUDING REMARKS.
IN referring to slavery in the Eastern Nations, allusion is
sometimes made to the religious difficulty. This some people
believe to be a great obstacle in the way of the extinction of
slavery in the Mussulman Countries. Speak to an ordi-
nary Englishman on the subject, he will look grave and talk
about the Koran: an intelligent Mohammedan, however,
will frankly tell you slavery is an evil institution which must
be abolished.
This is not surprising in view of the fact that the Koran
strongly commends the virtue of giving liberty to slaves.”’*
Although this supposed religious difficulty as an obstacle
to abolition is unreal, it is a fact that Islamism has done
much to extend slavery; but it should be remembered with
humiliation that the professors of Christianity have done
much in the same evil direction, and that they are not even
now clear of reproach.
The Sultan of Turkey, the Khedive, and several of the
principal expounders of the Mohammedan religion, have at
various times unequivocally condemned slavery. A number
* See Appendix E.
SI.AVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. I15
of the latter class have solemnly declared that ‘‘ selling male
and female slaves is an abomination to the most noble faith,”
and that they have the authority of Mahomet himself for
stating ‘‘ that the worst of men is the seller of men.”
In reference to the Declaration of the European Powers at
Vienna and Verona, it has been suggested that, as the nations
of Europe have all abandoned the slave-trade, the purpose
has been accomplished—but the Declarations went much
further than this; the respective Powers pledged themselves
to unite in measures for the complete, definitive, and universal
abolition of the slave-trade in Africa.
On looking back to the time when these declarations were
made, and to what passed during a period of some twenty
years after, especially in reference to the treaties made with
the Mohammedan Powers, it is impossible not to see that
much more was done formerly than has been attempted of
later years.
It is true that a new treaty has been made by England
with Zanzibar, but it required an agitation of many years to
induce the British Government even to do that, and it was
current in the House of Commons that the Government of
the day granted the Committee of Inquiry, which resulted
in the negociation of that Treaty, from some apprehension that
the safety of the Administration was involved.
Although the treaties with the Eastern Powers never were
12
116 THE LOST CONTINENT.
faithfully observed by Turkey, Egypt, and Persia, thereisreason
to believe that much more attention was paid to them for-
merly than has been latterly the case. Those nations have
read in the lines of our conduct of late that they are not so
much expected to abstain from slave-trading, as from doing
it openly. It is said, by those who ought to know, that
not many years since an English Consul in Egypt was
removed from his office by the British Government simply
because he was too much disposed to see the provisions
of British treaty and native law carried honestly into effect.
But it is not alone in Turkey and Egypt that an interest
in this cause has given way to apathy and indifference.
Thirty years ago, Colonel Sheil faithfully represented the
views of England at the Court of Persia, and was preparing
the way both for the abolition of slavery and the slave-trade
in that country. But since his departure from Teheran, so
far as is known, our representatives in that country have
attempted nothing.
Nobody desires to see the British Government enter upon
a hostile or quarrelsome course; but as treaties are already
in existence, and the enormous interests of a Continent are
involved, can our present feeble, faltering, and questionable
course on this subject in the East, be contemplated without
a sense of humiliation and regret?
To what cause must bz attributed this comparative indif-
SLAVERY AND THE SLAVE-TRADE. 1x7
ference of English Statesmen in modern times? There is
no want on their part of professed interest in the subject, but,
with one or two noble exceptions, our Statesmen seldom see
that the right time to take any action is come.
But it would not be just to lay all the blame at the doors
of Governments. The people at large have been greatly at
fault for want of information. Until within the last three
years a common notion has prevailed that the slave-trade
was a thing of the past. A great change in this respect has,
however, now taken place and a knowledge of the real state
of Africa has largely increased.
When the people of this and the other great nations are
properly alive to the subject, Statesmen will find that there is
such a thing as a right time to act. Germany and Russia
stand ready to unite their influenee with that of England.
France will probably not be behind. As to America her
national policy is now Anti-slavery. Her interest in the
Eastern Nations is not small—her missions in those countries
are numerous and singularly successful.
The whole world needs Africa, it needs the produce of her
vast and fertile lands. Her teeming millions, relieved from
the slave-trade, and the wild and hopeless desolation which
it spreads, will find their interest in cultivating the soil.
Africa needs clothing and manufactured goods. Europe
needs the raw material and produce of Africa, each Continent
118 THE LOST CONTINENT.
might and ought to be a blessing to the other. Even the
great famines in India might be prevented by the cultivation
of Eastern Africa.
The evident designs of a beneficent Providence are frus-
trated by the present state of things.
‘But it is on still higher considerations that the state of
Africa appeals at this moment to England and the civilized
world. No man can comprehend the extent of the evil, or
measure the amount of human suffering which slavery and
all its consequences at this moment involve.
Everything which has passed of late, and much that is still
passing indicate that the time is come for the abolition of
this, the greatest evil that ever afflicted mankind.
The great work was half done long ago—many circum-
stances combine to show that with the blessing of the
Almighty it may be completed now.
The time is surely come when this great barrier to the
entrance and progress of Christianity may be thrown down
to rise no more again for ever.
So will the way be prepared for Africa to have her part in
the fulfilment of the words of ancient prophecy—* Violence
shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting or destruction
within thy borders, but thou shalt call thy walls salvation
and thy gates praise.”
APPENDLY A
DECLARATION des 8 Cours, relative 4 [abolition universelle de la
Traite des Negres.
(Congrés de Vienne, protocole du 8 Février, 1815.)
Les Plénipotentiaires des Puissances qui ont signé le Traité de Pars
du 30 Mai, 1814, réunis en Conférence,—ayant pris en considération :
Que, le Commerce connu sous le nom de Traite des Negres o Afrique
‘a été envisagé, par les hommes justes et éclairés de tous les tems, comme
répugnant aux principes d’humanité et de la morale universelle ;
Que, les circonstances particulicres auxquelles ce Commerce a da
sa naissance et la difficulté d’en enterrompre brusquement le cours ont pl
couvrir, jusqu’a un certain point, ce qu'il y avoit d’odieux dans sa con-
servation, mais qu’enfin la voix publique s'est élevée dans tous les pays
«civilisés pour demander qu'il soit supprimé le plutdt possible ;
Que, depuis que le caractere et les détails de ce Commerce ont été
‘mieux connus et les maux de toute espéce qui 'accompagnent compléte-
‘ment dévoilés, plusicurs des Gouvernemens Européens ont pris en effet
la résolution de le faire cesser, et que successivement toutes les Puissances,
possédant des Colonies dans les différentes parties du monde, ont
reconnu, soit par des Actes Législatifs, soit par des Traités et autres
Engagemens formels, obligation et la nécessité de I'abolir ;
Que, par un Article Séparé du dernier Traité de Paris, la Grande
Bretagne et la France se sont engagées a réunir leurs efforts au Congres
de Vienne pour faire prononcer, par toutes les Puissances de la
Chrétienté, abolition universelle et définitive de la Traite des Négres ;
120 THE 10ST CONTINENT.
Que, les Plénipotentiaires rassemblés dans ce Congres ne sauroient
mieux honorer leur Mission, remplir leur devoir et manifester les
principes qui guident leurs Augustes Souverains, quen travaillant a
réaliser cet engagement et en proclamant, au nom de leurs Souverains,
le veeu de mettre un terme a un fléau qui a si long tems désolé I’Afrique,
dégradé UEurope, et aflligé 'humanité ;
— Les dits Plénipotentiaires sont convenus d’ouvrir leurs délibérations.
sur les moyens d’accomplir un objet aussi salutaire, par une Déclaration
solemnelle des principes qui les ont dirigé dans ce travail.
En conséquence, et diiement autorisés a cet Acte par l’adhésion
unanime de leurs Cours respectives au principe énoncé dans le dit
Article Séparé du Traité de Paris, ils déclarent, a la face de I'Europe,
que, regardant I'abolition universelle de la Traite des Négres comme une
mesure particulicrement digne de leur attention, conforme a esprit du
siecle et aux principes généreux de leurs Augustes Souverains, ils sont
animés du désir sincere de concourir a 'exécution la plus prompte et la
plus efficace de cette mesure, par tous les moyens a leur disposition et
d’agir, dans l'emploi de ces moyens avec, tout le zcle et toute la
persévérance qu’ils doivent a une aussi grande et belle cause.
Trop instruits toutefois des sentimens de leurs Souverains, pour ne
pas prévoir que, quelqu’honorable que soit leur but, ils ne le pour-
suivront pas sans de justes ménagemens pour les intéréts, les habitudes
et les préventions mémes de leurs Sujets; les dits Plénipotentiaires
reconnoissent, en méme tems, que cette Déclaration générale ne sauroit
préjuger le terme que chaque Puissance en particulier pourroit envisager
comme le plus convenable pour I'abolition définitive du Commerce des
Négres :—Par conséouent, la détermination de Pépoque oli ce Commerce
doit universellement cesser sera un objet de négociation entre les
Puissances ; bien erterdu que 'on ne négligera aucun moyen propre a
en assurer et a en accélérer la marche; et que engagement réciproque,
contracté par la présente Déclaration entre les Souverains qui y ont
pris part, ne sera considéré comme rempli qu’au moment oll un succés
complet aura couronné leurs efforts réunis.
APPENDIX. : 121
En portant cette Déclaration a la connoissance de I'Europe, et de
toutes les Nations civilisées de la terre, les dits Plénipotentiaires se
flattent d’engager tous les autres Gouvernemens, et notamment ceux
qui, en abolissant la Traite des Négres ont manifesté déja les memés
sentimens, i les appuyer de leur suffrage dans une Cause dont le triomphe
final scra un des plus beaux monumens du si¢cle qui Ua embrassée et qu
laura gloricusement terminde.
Vieng, le 8 Fevrier 1813.
(CASTLEREAGH PaLmeLLa
STewarp, Lieut.-Gen. SALDANHA
WELLINGTON Logo
NESSELRODE HumsoLpt
C. LoweNHIELM METTERNICH
Gomez Lasracor TALLEYRAND
RESOLUTIONS relatives a I Abolition de la Traite des Négres, adoptées
a la Conférence de Vérone, le 28 Novembre 1822.
Les Plénipotentiaires de DIAutriche, de la France, de la Grande
Bretagne, de la Prusse et de la Russie, réunis en Congres, a Verone,
Considérant,—Que Leurs Augustes Souverains ont pris part a la
Déclaration du 8 Février 1815, par laquelle, les Puissances réunies en
Congres a Vienne, ont proclamé, a la face de Europe, leur Résolution
invariable de faire cesser le Commerce connu sous le nom de la Traite
des Negres d’Afrique ;
Considérant de plus,—Que, malgré cette Déclaration et en dépit des
Mesures Législatives dont elle a été suivie dans plusieurs Pays et des
différens Traités conclus depuis la dite époque entre les Puissances
Maratimes, ce Commerce, solemnellement proscrit, a continué jusqu’a
ce jour, qu'il a gagné en intensité ce qu'il ‘peut avoir perdu en étendue,
qu’il a pris méme un caractére plus odieux et plus funeste par la nature
des movyens auxquels ceux qui Uexercent sont forcés d’avoir recours ;
3
122 THE 1LOST CONTINENT.
Que les causes d'un abus aussi révoltant se trouvent principalment
dans les pratiques frauduleuses, moyennant lesquelles les entrepreneurs
de ces spéculations condamnables éludent les lois de leurs pays, déjouent
la surveillance des bitimens employés pour arréter le cours de leurs
iniquités, et couvrent les opérations criminelles dont les milliers d’étres
humains deviennent d’année en année les innocentes victimes ;
Que les Puissances de Europe sont appelées par leurs engagemens
antérieurs, autant que par un devoir sacré, a chercher les moyens les
plus efficaces pour prévenir un trafic, que déja les Lois de la presque
totalité des Pays Civilises ont déclaré illicite et coupable, et pour punir
rigourcusement ceux qui le poursuivent, en contravention manifeste de
ices Lois;
—Ont reconnu la néeessité de vouer I'attention la plus serieuse a un
objet d’une aussi grande importance pour le bien et I’ hondeur ne
Phumanité,—et déclarent, en conséquence,—au nom de Leurs Augustes
Souverains :
Qu’ils persistent invariablement dans les principes et les sentimens
que ces Souverains ont manifesté par la Déclaration du 8 Février 1815;
Qu’ils n'ont pas cessé, et ne cesseront jamais de regarder le Commerce
des Négres comme ; “un fléau, qui a trop longtems désolé Afrique,
dégradé I'Europe, et affligé I’humanité ” ;
Qu'ils sont préts a concourir a tout ce qui pourra assurer et accélérer
I’Abolition complete et définitive de ce Commerce ;
Qu’afin de donner effet a cette Déclaration renouvelée, leurs Cabinets
respectifs se livreront avec empressement a examen de toute Mesure
compatible avec leurs droits et les intéréts de leurs Sujets, pour amener
un résultat constatant, aux yeux du Monde, la sincérité de leurs veux
et de leurs efforts en faveur d'une cause digne de leur sollicitude
commune.
APPENDIX. 123
APPENDIX BD.
SIR SAMUEL BAKER’S EXPEDITION.
(To the Editor of The Times.)
Sir,—1I have seen in The Zimes of the 27th inst. a letter from Sir
Samuel Baker, in which he says to those who are really interested in
the slave-trade and its attendant horrors, there are important facts he
can and will prove by numerous witnesses now in England.
He charges Abou Sooad with stealing 1,400 head of cattle from the
natives of the Shir tribe, and bringing them to Gondokoro ; also that
he overtook three boats on the way to Khartoum, laden with 700 slaves
belonging to Abou Sooad. Now, as I am one of the unfortunate
survivors of his expedition, I presume I am one of the parties he refers
to, and hasten to give my testimony in the matter.
Previous to Sir Samuel Baker’s leaving Khartoum for Gondokoro he
made arrangements with the firm of which Abou Sooad was agent for
a supply of cattle, at so much per head, during his stay in the country.
In agreement with this arrangement, Abou Sooad brought up a number
of cattle to Gondokoro, which he took from the Shir tribe in the usual
manner. These cattle Sir Samuel Baker took by force from Abou Sooad
without paying for them. Sir Samuel must have been quite aware that
Abou Sooad could only obtain them in the manner he did when he
made the agreement with his firm in Khartoum. I am not aware that
Sir S. Baker ever made any recompense to the Shir tribe for the loss of
their cattle, although quite within his power to do so.
It is quite true that we overtook three boats with a number of slaves
on board, and I have no doubt that the boats belonged to Abou Sooad’s
124 THE LOST CONTINENT.
firm. It was very fortunate for us we came up with the slave-dealers,
as without their assistance we could not have got through the Sud in
the Bahir Giraffe until the river rose. Delay in that dreadful region
would have been attended with great disaster in the state of health we
were all in. The slave-dealers gave their assistance with a hearty good-
will; and Sir Samuel rewarded the head man of the slave-fleet with
suitable presents, and parted with mutual good wishes.
If Sir Samuel Baker wishes at any time for my testimony as to the
barbarous manner in which the expedition was conducted, the whole-
sale murders, pillage, and ruin of the country, he is welcome to it; or
should the Royal Geographical Society or any body of gentlemen wish for
any information respecting that futile expedition, I shall be glad to give
it previous to my departure from this country. Sir Samuel Baker states
that he gave Colonel Gordon assistance and advice as to the construction
of his iron carts and other means of transport. He may have done so;
but Colonel Gordon never acted upon it, they having been designed and
ordered by me at Colonel Gordon’s request, I having been in his employ
for some weeks previous to his departure for Egypt.
J. M‘WiLLiaM,
Chief Engineer late White Nile Expedition.
8, Balmoral Terrace, Aberdeen, July 28.
APPENDIX. 125
APPENDIX
THE LATE BISHOP PATTESON ON THE LABOUR
TRAFFIC,
GREAT stress is sometimes laid upon the fact that, though Bishop
Patteson condemned the traffic as carried on his time, he did not
advocate its total suppression. But it should be remembered that,
whilst many outrages had been committed when the Bishop gave this
opinion, the evils of the system were then only partially developed.
Had he lived to witness the horrible atrocities that have since been
perpetrated, and the total depopulation of some of the islands, or had
he been better acquainted with the condition of large numbers of the
victims under contract labour in Queensland and Fiji, the places of
their destination, it can scarcely be imagined that so enlightened and
excellent a man would have uttered a word in favour of it. To quote
the Bishop, therefore, in support of the present system, appears scarcely
just to his memory.
126 THE LOST CONTINENT.
APPENDIX Db
EXTRACTS OF A PAPER ON THE NORTH-WEST
AFRICAN EXPEDITION.
“THE object of the North-west African Expedition is to establish a
commercial and missionary station at the mouth of the River Belta, on
the Atlantic, in the neighbourhood of Cape Juby and Cape Bojador,
on the North-west Coast of Africa, opposite the Canary Islands; to
make a preliminary survey of the route between Cape Bojador, on
the Atlantic Coast, and the Northern bend of the River Niger at
Timbuctoo, in the interior, for the purpose of cutting a canal for
commercial intercourse with Central Africa.
“The great importance of a commercial highway into Interior
Africa is patent to every mind; the revenue that would arise from
such an enterprise would be immense, and the blessings to the natives
would be equally great, shut up as they are at present from European
intercourse. Such a highway would open up and develop the vast
resources of that great continent to the civilised and commercial world.
According to the authority of celebrated African travellers, the pro-
jected canal is void of any formidable obstacle, and the physical
formation of the great desert (Sahara) at this part favours the scheme,
as the distance between the mouth of the River Belta and the Northern
bend of the Niger at Timbuctoo is only about 740 miles, 630 of which
is occupied by a great hollow called ¢ El Tiris and El Juf,” the existence
of which is proved by Dr. Barth, Bou. el Moghdad Panet, &c.,
bordered by considerable tills, and is supposed to be about 140 feet
APPENDIX. 127
below the level of the Atlantic, and has probably been at one time
covered by the sea. This deeply-depressed country is separated from
the sea by a broken ridge of about thirty miles, through which runs
the River Belta, about twenty-five miles, so that all that is required
is to deepen the channel and cut through the ridge, and let the
Atlantic fall into this vast arid basin, which would form a fine sheet of
water and improve the climate, as that of the Suez Desert has done,
and would also become more fertile for pasturage and agriculture, and
carry commerce at once into the heart of Africa.
«A junction with the Niger is of the highest commercial importance ;
it would not only command the whole trade of the populous cities and
towns on the banks of the Niger, and the countries around teeming
with population, but would command the trade of the great tributary
rivers of the Niger as far as Lake Tchad, thus opening a direct com-
mercial intercourse with about 20,000,000 inhabitants who have
hitherto been almost excluded from trade, and would, moreover,
become the commercial medium between North Central Africa and the
populous regions of Tafilelt and Twat.
«This country produces grain, cotton, ebony, indigo, iron, ivory,
gold, &c.; the desert produces ostrich feathers, gum, palm oil, dates, &c.;
coffee and rice could be cultivated to any extent.
“The amount which may be required for an able and complete
survey from Cape Juby, on the Atlantic Coast, to Timbuctoo, in the
interior of Africa, will probably be about / 5,000; towards which sub-
scriptions are earnestly solicited from those who are interested either in
the extension of our commerce, or the civilisation and well-being of the
African people.
¢ Donations will be thankfully received, on behalf of the ‘Trustees, by
“ DonaLp MACKENZIE,
“125, Sandringham Road, Dalston.”
128 THE LOST CONTINENT.
«“ 4rmy and Navy Club, St. James's,
«“ 30th January, 1875.
¢ Dear Sir,—I have read your communication with intense interest ;
the subject is one that has engaged my attention for many years. You
propose to work in the neighbourhood of Cape Juby; my idea was, that
Cape Blanco would offer better facilities for the engineer. I am glad
that a survey is to be undertaken to ascertain the practicability of sub-
merging the Sahara from the Atlantic at some point which shall be
beyond the jurisdiction of the Emperor of Morocco on the one hand,
and northward of the French on the other. I shall be glad to aid you
in a scheme second only to the Suez Canal. It is the only way to bring
Christianity, commerce, and civilisation to the teeming millions at it
centre.
“ Yours faithfully,
“ Joun H. Grover,
“Commander R.N.
«To Donald Mackenzie.”
« An advantageous spot might be fixed upon the North-western Coast
of Africa, in an independent district near the Empire of Morocco,
where goods would have only to pass one tribe, and subject to no import
whatever, neither would they be subject to any duty on entering the
city of Timbuctoo, as they would enter at the Beb Sahara, or the gate
of the desert, which exempts them from duty or import. Some persons
have declared that the inhabitants of the Sahara are a wild and savage
race, untractable and not to be civilised by commerce or any other
n s, this I beg leave to contradict. I speak not from the experience
of books, but from an actual intercourse, {rom having passed many years
of my youth among them.
“Vasco pe Gama.”
APPENDIX. 129
APPENDIX I,
THE KORAN ON SLAVERY.
“ Si quelques-uns de vos esclaves en qui vous avez reconnu des bonnes
qualités, vous demandent leur affranchissement par écrit donnez-le leur,
et faites leur méme part de ces bien que Dien vous a dispenses.”—
Sourate La Lumiere, xx. 33.
“ Pour tous les vrais Musulmans, Bon-Hourira a prononce cette
sentence : © Ne dites pas, mon esclave, car nous sommes tous les
esclaves d’Allah, mais dites, mon serviteur ou ma servante.’ ”
“Le Commentateur Musulman Achab a dit—¢ [enfant d’une esclave,
frappé douloureusement par son maitre, peut le fuir.’”
“D’apres les tradites, © Celui qui met en liberté un esclave est exempt
des feux de Penfer”—L Esclavage chez les Musulmans. MM. Dunant,
Geneve.
That the Mohammedan religion sanctions slavery is not to be
questioned, but it does not therefore follow that it offers any serious
obstacle to its abolition.
A religion which declares the manumission of slaves to be an act
of the highest conceivable merit in this world, and one that even gives
K
I30 THE LOST CONTINENT.
a title to happiness in the next, cannot be considered a stronghold of
slavery.
If it be true that Africa cannot be delivered from the slave-trade
while slavery exists in the Eastern countries, it is not less true that the
Mohammedan nations cannot be roused from their present state of
lethargy and sensuality while slavery, in the form peculiar to the
Moslems, continues to exist. No people have suffered more from
the effects of slavery than the Mussulmans. They occupy some of
the finest portions of the Earth, but under their rule those countries
are in many parts little better than uncultivated wastes. All history
shows that where slavery prevails every other evil follows in its train.
That it should be so appears to be the retributive law of Providence,
from which there is no escape.
The abolition of slavery in Turkey and her dependencies is at the
present moment an absolute and pressing necessity, if she is to continue
to maintain an independent existence.
London : BarreTT, Sons & Co., Crown Printing Works, Seething Lane, E.C.
plan aE AR RE fe a © aad SE las SE
1A TRAVTIE ORIENTALL.
Histoire des chasses a ’homme organisées en Afrique depuis
quinze ans pour les Marchés de I’Orient. Par ETIENNE-
FELIX BERLIOUX, Professor d’ Histoire, au Lycee Imperiale
de Lyon.
GUILLAUMIN, Paris, 1870.
ANDRE BRIE.
Ou I'Origine de la Colonie Francaise du Senegal. Par
ETIENNE-FELIX BERLIOUX.
GuiLLAUMIN, Paris, 1874.
DOCTRINA PTOLEMAI
Ab injuria recentiorum Vindicata sive Nilus superior et
Niger verus, scripsit STEPHANUS-FELIX BERLIOUX.
GUILLAUMIN, Paris.
THE SLAVE-TRADE IN
AFRICA IN 1872.
Principally carried on for the supply of Turkey, Egypt,
Persia and Zanzibar. By ETIENNE-FELIX BERLIOUX. From
the French, with a Preface by JosEpH COOPER.
London : 27, New Broad Street.
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